


Still Jack and Daniel Series 2- Ghosts of the Past II - Evolution

by Annejackdanny



Series: Still Jack and Daniel Series 2 - No Yellow Brick Road/Ghosts of the Past [7]
Category: SG-1 - Fandom
Genre: Action, Adventure, Kidfic, M/M, Slash, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-20
Updated: 2012-09-21
Packaged: 2017-11-14 16:50:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 48,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/517435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annejackdanny/pseuds/Annejackdanny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loosley based on the Season 7 episode "Evolution"</p><p>Jack and the two Daniels go to Honduras to find the Telchak device</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Evolution I

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story starts out around the events of the Season 7 episode “Evolution” but will steer away from the canon events very soon. I also altered the usage of the Telchak device slightly and the canon terms of which Ancient technology can be used by Ancients only.
> 
> I have to apologize to those who might find any flaws and screw ups in the Mayan language and history. I did research, however, it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what I needed from the resources I had. My usage of the Mayan language might not be correct as there are many different dialects and I might have mingled them in the story because it wasn't always clear which dialect the dictionary I used belonged to. If you're interested to know which websites I used for the Mayan background and language for this story, please send me a note and I'll give you the links. There are far too many to list them all here. 
> 
> Also I used the transcripts of “Evolution” for part of this story. 
> 
> http://stargate-SG-1-solutions.com/wiki/7.11_"Evolution_Part_1"_Transcript
> 
> http://stargate-SG-1-solutions.com/wiki/7.12_"Evolution_Part_2"_Transcript
> 
> Warning: Two Character Deaths (no main characters though!), angst, whumping, zombies (yeah, I knoooow...),
> 
> Thanks and heart hugs to my lovely beta/alpha reader – you know who you are :D

**Ghosts of the Past**

**II**

**Evolution**

**I**

“Is Daniel Jackson among you?” A male voice boomed out of the speaker, causing Sgt. Walter Davis to wince. 

“Yes!” Two voices answered as one. 

General Hammond held up a hand to silence the Daniels as he bent over the mike. “They are both here. May we send SG-1 through so they can talk to Doctor Ballard, please?”

“That is not possible.” 

Hammond exchanged a glance with Jack O'Neill, who narrowed his eyes. The general turned back to the mike. “May I ask why it's not possible to talk to Doctor Ballard?”

Silence answered them.

The younger one of the Daniels stepped forward and reached for the mike, but a hand on his shoulder stilled him and he was gently pulled back.

“Something's going on,” the kid whispered. 

“I know,” Jack whispered back. “Let's not jump the gun though, okay?” 

“What happened?” Hammond questioned the Giant he was currently talking to. 

Jack thought calling those guys Giants was a little lame. But then that was what they were. Huge fog-like aliens, looking a little like ancient Maya. Nicholas Ballard, great Doctor of Archeology and not so great grandfather of Daniel Jackson, had christened them “the Giant Aliens” first, so they were just called “Giants” now. They didn't object to it either. Jack was sure both Daniels knew how they called themselves and their planet though.

“He has fallen ill,” the Giant informed them. 

“How bad is it?” Jackson inquired, worry lacing his voice. 

“He has suffered for a long time, but did not want us to contact you,” the alien answered. 

Jackson turned to Hammond. “General, if I may...?”

The general gave a nod and stepped aside to make room for Jackson to talk to the being on the other side of the open wormhole. The event horizon's reflection was shimmering in the bullet proof control room window, giving Jackson's face a hue of blue.

“Why can he talk to them and I can't?” LD scowled, nudging Jack with his elbow. 

“Because the general said he can,” Jack replied in a low voice. “Not my fault.” 

“Ja-ack.” 

“Daniel.” 

“Colonel,” Hammond said quietly. 

“Hey, what did _I_ do?” Jack muttered, but under the general's warning look, hastily added. “Sorry, sir.” 

In the meantime, Jackson bent over the mike and cleared his throat. “This is Daniel Jackson. We would like to meet Doctor Ballard. Maybe we can treat him here on base. We have medical equipment that might help him.” 

After another moment of silence the booming voice answered, “You are welcome here.”

“Thank you,” Jackson replied and Hammond gave Walter a sign to disconnect. Turning to Carter, who was standing next to Jack, the general said, “You have a go. I'll have Doctor Fraiser and a medical team on standby, in case Doctor Ballard isn't able to return on his own.” 

“Yes, sir,” Carter replied. 

Gared Baxter and both Daniels were already on their way to the locker room.

_Oh, here we go_ , Jack thought, feeling a headache coming his way. Daniel wasn't going to back down easily on this one. Ballard was his grandfather and, grounded from gate travel or not, he'd want to see him. 

“General, if we can't get Nick home, the kid might want to...” Jack started but was interrupted by Carter, who shook her head. 

“Sir, Daniel can't come with us. It's not safe.” 

General Hammond frowned at that. “How so, Major?”

“Remember there's a low radiation level on that planet. We shouldn't stay there any longer than we really have to. I strongly suggest not exposing Daniel to it at all. His small body has even less tolerance to the radiation than ours.” 

“Ah,” Jack said. “Those Nintendo thingies that pass through anything no matter how dense?” 

“Neutrinos, sir,” Carter corrected, a small smile on her lips. “And the pyramid does slow the neutrinos down. But the radiation level is still there.” 

“All right. Get Doctor Ballard home as fast as possible then,” Hammond replied after a moment of thought. 

“Yes, sir.” Carter was already on her way out, followed by Jack. 

Once they were in the elevator and Carter had pressed the button, she turned to Jack, giving him a weary look. “Sir... who's going to tell Daniel that he can't go?”

“Want to toss a coin?” 

“I'm just saying... you're his guardian.” 

“Ah, but you're the leader of SG-1 now. Fearless and brave. See it as training in diplomacy. Strength. Battling of minds.” 

She snorted. “Excuse me?”

“Carter, you'll do a great job. I think I need something from the commissary. Apple pie. Or blueberry,” Jack said, reaching out to press another button. But Carter stepped around him and blocked the way so he snatched his hand back and raised an eyebrow. “Carter?” 

“Fine. I'll tell him. But you'll be there and step in if he has a meltdown,” she stated firmly. 

“You chicken,” Jack said, waggling his eyebrows. 

  
  


“But I'm already geared up!” Scowling, Daniel crossed his arms.

“I told him it would be better to wait until he's cleared to go,” Gared Baxter said. He was sitting on one of the benches, tying his boots. 

Carter cast Jack a quick glance, but he leaned against the wall next to the door and subtly shook his head.  _Sorry, you're on your own here._ As the leader of SG-1 dealing with Little Daniel was part of the job – up to a point. Even though the Wretch didn't go off world, he was still part of the team. In the past, Carter had complained about Jack's inability to let the rest of SG-1 take care of the kid. Well, there you go, he had gotten over his reluctance up to a point some time ago. And it wasn't as if his 2IC... former 2IC... couldn't handle this bit of a situation. 

“I'm sorry, Daniel. But you can't go. The risk is too high,” Carter said. She'd already been through the radiation and Nintendo explanation and she was doing a good job so far. Keeping a professional tone, no pet names and no sugar coating. 

“But he's my granddad. He's the only living relative I have,” Daniel objected. He was wearing his green BDU field jacket and boots. It still amazed Jack, how small the boots and that jacket were. Even after a year and a half it sometimes hit him with new force that this mini-Daniel had once been a grown man. 

Carter zipped her jacket and sat down next to Daniel. “Hey, I know how you feel. I'd take you with me, you know it. But it's really not safe. We'll look after Nick and, if possible, bring him home, okay?”

Daniel looked at his boots and kicked at his right foot with his left. “Okay,” he sighed.

When the locker room door burst open and Jackson barged in, holding Nick's notebook in one hand and his backpack in the other, Daniel's head shot up and he gave his big version an intense look.

For a moment Jack thought the kid would throw his frustration at his older self because BD was allowed to go. But when Daniel spoke, his voice didn't bear any anger, “If he can't come back with you, if he's too weak, you'll show him the book with his notes of the Fountain of Youth device, right?”

Jackson let his pack slide down on the bench and placed the battered leather bound notebook on top of it. He placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. “Yes. And when we bring Nick back you can talk to him yourself. I'm sorry you can't come with us.”

Daniel nodded. “It's probably better I stay here anyway. He doesn't even know I exist. And maybe it's too late anyway. The Giants didn't sound very hopeful. It seems he's very sick.”

Jack pushed himself off the wall, alerted by how fragile his kid sounded. Putting a hand on the small nape of Daniel's neck, he soothed, “Let's not assume the worst here, shall we? He'll come through and you two can meet and... greet.”

Daniel leaned into the touch for a moment before pulling away.

Jack caught the deep frown of worry on Carter's face as she gave him another look, more urgent this time. Daniel shrugged out of his jacket, opened his locker and shoved it inside, then slammed the door shut. “I'll go to the control room to wave you off. Good luck.”  He hurried out without a backward glance. 

Jack cocked his head as the door sighed shut behind the kid. "Carter?"

“Sir, I hate to say it, but Daniel may be right about Nick.” 

“How so? I mean he's old and probably not as fit as he used to be,” Jack began, but stopped as Carter shook her head firmly. 

“Nick might suffer from radiation sickness due to his long term stay on the planet.” She looked at Jackson. “Sorry, Daniel.” 

“It's okay, Sam. I was kinda expecting something like that.” Jackson was done dressing and grabbed his pack. “And I guess Daniel does, too.” 

“Yeah,” Carter said sadly. 

“Hey, come on. Those Giants took care of ole' Nick. They knew how to keep him healthy or he would have been dead some time ago. I remember Fraiser telling us not to stay on that planet for longer than ten to fifteen minutes. If he survived all those years, they sure had a way of treating him,” Jack objected. 

“Maybe up to a point, yes,” Carter agreed. “But apparently something went wrong.” 

“We'll find out soon enough,” Baxter said quietly. 

“Yes. This shouldn't take long.” Jackson shouldered his pack and the three of them moved out. 

  
  


Jack and LD watched from the control room as the two members of SG-1 and Jackson met Doctor Fraiser and two people from her staff in the gate room. There was a short exchange of instructions before Baxter and Jackson took the gurney and stepped through the gate, followed by Carter.

The wormhole swallowed them, collapsing as the gate shut down..

“I wish I was with them,” Daniel sighed. 

Jack wished he was with them, too. Staying behind and watching his team go through the gate wasn't as easy as he had thought. Even if it was a simple mission like this one. Oh, he'd done it before, ever since Daniel had become the munchkin. But knowing he was really off the team somehow gave it a different feeling. Until now it had been mostly up to Jack which missions he attended and when he felt it was okay to stay home. Now that Carter was truly in command, she'd have to make the call if she needed him.

It felt strange.

However, at the moment he was more worried about Teal'c, who was on another mission with his mentor Bra'tac.

Fact was, Jack hated SG-1 being split up.

Daniel pushed up his glasses, leaving two smudged fingerprints on them. “And I can't stop thinking of Teal'c and Bra'tac. I hope they don't get caught while they're trying to figure out more about that alliance Ramius and Tilgath are supposed to forge.”

“Teal'c and Bra'tac can handle a simple covert ops,” Jack replied, not giving away his own worries. He knew Teal'c and Bra'tac were formidable warriors, heck they were both a lot older than Jack and still went where angels feared without even batting an eyelid. 

Yet, if something happened, they'd be two guys plus one team of four marines facing two armies of Jaffa from two different system lords.

Crap, he really hated staying behind.

“Jack?” 

“Daniel?” 

“How long do you think it will take for Sam to call in?” There was a high pitch to the kid's voice, as if he couldn't suppress his anxiety entirely. 

“Depends on what's going on. But they won't stay over there any longer than necessary, due to the radiation.” 

As soon as he said it, Jack bit his tongue. But like Jackson had suspected, Daniel remembered his little adventure with the crystal skull all too well. His blue eyes flickered over to Jack, then turned away and gazed at the gate.

“Okay. I know. I'm just...“

“I know.” 

Daniel exhaled a deep breath, arms sneaking around himself, while he stared out of the control room window as if willing the chevrons to glow.

Jack briefly thought about getting the kid into the commissary for that apple pie or just somewhere away from the control room. But he figured SG-1 would be back soon or at least call in. And Daniel would be anxious, no matter where they waited.

Five minutes later the gate began to spin. Walter looked at Jack. “It's SG-1's GDO code, sir.”

Jack gave him a nod. “Open the iris.”

The wormhole opened and the event horizon rippled as Carter stepped through, followed by Jackson and Baxter, who carried the empty gurney.

They talked to Fraiser, who nodded curtly and left the gate room together with the rest of them.

This was going to be a bad day.

***

“Six days ago?” General Hammond looked from Sam to Baxter in disbelief before his eyes settled on Big Daniel. 

“That's what the Giants told us. Nick died six days ago and, according to his wish, they eliminated his body. He didn't want them to contact us.” 

“So there is no body?” 

“No. As for the circumstances of his death... they could only tell us he fell ill about a year ago and became weaker and weaker. Quetzalcoatl, that's... that's the name of one of the Giants... gave me Nick's personal things. That's about it.” 

“Could his death be the consequence of the radiation?” Hammond addressed Janet. 

“Yes. Most certainly that's what caused the illness,” Janet explained to the small group of people that had gathered in the briefing room. “Radiation Sickness or Radiation Poisoning is defined as the damage to the organ tissues due to the excessive exposure to ionizing radiation. I suspect Doctor Ballard suffered from chronic radiation syndrome, which is caused by a long term exposure to low radiation. Of course, without a body to examine I can't be 100 percent positive. But... that's what I assume.”

“Weren't the Giants able to prevent this from happening?” Hammond questioned. 

“No. They tried treating his symptoms, but they aren't human and therefore couldn't really cure him,” Daniel said. 

“There's no cure for radiation sickness,” Janet explained. “We couldn't have done more than treating the symptoms either. However, if Doctor Ballard had returned to Earth after a reasonable amount of time instead of choosing to live with the Giants indefinitely, he most likely wouldn't have noticed most of the long term health issues just yet.” 

There was silence for a minute. Daniel could hear the rustling of Janet's papers next to him. He raised his head and looked into the concerned faces of Hammond and Sam. Baxter was talking to Jack and LD, who were down in LD's office. Daniel had wanted to bring them the sad news himself, but Hammond insisted he join the briefing, so Baxter had volunteered to do it.

“Nick wanted to stay there,” Daniel said to no one in particular. “The crystal skull and the giant aliens were his goal in life. Even more important than the Fountain of Youth legend.” 

Nobody, except LD, could understand Nick's quest and obsession better than Daniel. He remembered visiting his grandfather a year after they had left him to stay on the planet. They had talked, they had argued and nothing Daniel could have said or done would have convinced Nick to return home. And Daniel, who inherited his grandfather's obsession for history, myths and archeology, understood. How could he not? How could he not have done all that was in his power to talk Hammond into letting his grandfather stay with his new friends, the Giants?

He had accepted Nick's wish because he knew it was what the old man really wanted. It would've been what Daniel really wanted if he was in the same position. He remembered how Jack had forced him to leave Ernest's planet when the palace was about to collapse. And even though his rational mind told him it was the right decision to stay alive, rather than to gain knowledge he wouldn't be able to share with anyone, a part in him had grieved for the lost opportunity.

Tough choices.

Nick wouldn't choose differently if given the same opportunity again.

Yet, there was a jolt of guilt surging through Daniel. For not visiting his grandfather more frequently. For not trying harder to convince Nick to come home for more than a short stay...

“I am sorry for your loss, son,” the general said gently and stood. “I'll see to it that there's a memorial service.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Daniel replied stiffly. 

“Dismissed.” Hammond returned to his office. 

He felt Janet's hand squeeze his shoulder. “He chose not to inform us, Daniel. I know you might not want to hear that right now, but he probably wanted to spare you the worries.”

“I know.” 

“I'm sorry.” Patting his arm one last time, she left the briefing room. 

“Janet's right, you know,” Sam stated, worried blue eyes gazing at him from across the table. “He could have called. Or come through. What I'm trying to say is that you couldn't have done anything.” 

“I could have checked on him more often. But I chose not to. In my time line I didn't even know he died. Because we never had to search for the Fountain of Youth legend. We never had to contact Nick,” Daniel said acidly. “I was too busy with my own life to remember my grandfather most of the time.” 

“Daniel...” 

He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. “Sorry, Sam. It's not your fault. I'll go and look after Jack and LD.”

  
  


When he entered LD's office, he found Jack sitting on the old couch, patting the sleepy dog, while the boy was at his desk, flipping through some papers. Apparently Baxter had left already.

Flyboy raised his head briefly before putting it back into Jack's lap so he could enjoy having his ears scratched some more.

“Hey,” Daniel said and slumped down beside Jack, who acknowledged his presence with a nod. 

“I could've come to the briefing, too,” Daniel's small voice informed them. “There's no need to exclude me.” 

“You know Janet. She was afraid you might have a meltdown,” Daniel replied. “Did Gared tell you everything?” 

“Yep,” Jack replied. “Sorry.” 

“I'm not having a meltdown,” LD said defiantly. 

Jack scrubbed a weary hand through his hair. “Daniel...”

“I knew he was very sick. And old. I'm not stupid.” 

“No one implied you're stupid,” Jack said quietly. “Janet meant well. There's no need to...” 

Sighing, LD dropped his paper work and looked at them, grimacing. “Sorry.”

Daniel thought the kid should be next to Jack on the couch, not him. Little Daniel should be hugged and held and be comforted. But obviously he didn't want to or he would've been with Jack. He looked very small there at the big desk.

Daniel didn't know what to say and so they sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment.

“There'll be a memorial service for Nick,” he said finally. 

“Yeah,” Jack mumbled while LD just sat there, swinging his legs and gazing at the floor. 

When the klaxons set off it was like a ban was broken.

“Teal'c and Bra'tac are back,” LD said.

“Let's go,” Jack ordered.


	2. Evolution II

**II**

“Whoa!” Jack grabbed the collar of LD's shirt to prevent him from running towards the ramp, when a team of four marines came through the wormhole, carrying a stretcher.

BD couldn't suppress a smile, wondering if Jack would stop doing that once the kid had grown up. Probably not. Old habits die hard.

He and Sam exchanged a puzzled look at the sight of a man, wearing a black suit, who was tied to the stretcher, his head covered by a black helmet

Still holding tightly onto LD's shirt collar, Jack waited near the door until Teal'c announced it was safe to approach. Once Hammond ordered the SFs to stand down Jack let go of LD, who immediately joined the others at the foot of the ramp.

“What the hell happened out there?” Hammond demanded, voice tense. 

Bra'tac's amour was blackened in several places and even Teal'c looked a little ruffled. “Our intelligence was correct. The summit between Ramius and Tilgath did indeed take place. However, when we arrived, Ramius had already fled.”

“All those who remained had been slain, including Tilgath,” Bra'tac added gloomily.

“By this one man alone?” Hammond pointed at the still figure on the stretcher. 

Bra'tac nodded. “From the way he fought us, I do not doubt it.” There was grudgingly respect in the old warrior's voice, but also cautiousness.

Hammond stepped aside and Daniel was able to get a close look at the black suited and, apparently, dead man. It was LD who said out loud what Daniel was thinking. “Wow. He looks like that guy from Star Wars.”

“Darth Vader,” Jack snorted, hovering close to the kid.

“He was unlike any warrior we have previously encountered,” Teal'c said, concern lacing his deep voice. 

“But... obviously, you were able to take him down?” Daniel couldn't believe one single man was able to take down two delegations of Jaffa and a system lord. 

“He withstood the brunt of our weapons fire before finally succumbing,” Teal'c replied.

Sam traced a finger over the alien's suit. “Its armor must protect it from energy-based weapons. If that's the case, we could be dealing with an entirely new kind of technology.”

“And we believe this wasn't a set-up by Ramius to kill Tilgath?” Daniel asked.

“Ramius's Jaffa were equally as decimated. His First Prime said his master barely escaped alive,” Bra'tac informed them.

“So, obviously, someone found out about the alliance and wanted to stop it,” LD mumbled.

Hammond gave a dismissive nod to all of them, but addressed Sam. “Major, run whatever tests you have to.”

“Can I watch?” LD asked when they were heading down the corridor.

“You know it's a dead guy underneath this suit, right?” Daniel wasn't sure if it was a good idea... right after what happened to Nick... 

“I've seen dead people before,” LD said, voice curt. “Lots.”

Okay, there was that... Daniel glanced at Jack, who pursed his lips and finally jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the marines who were carrying the stretcher. “Carter? It's dead, right?”

“It should be safe, sir,” she nodded. “We'll put him through an MRI before removing the suit.”

“Right. You can watch. No touching. And you'll listen to Carter,” Jack instructed. Ruffling the boy's hair, his voice softened when he continued, “Are you sure you want to watch? I don't think it's pretty.”

“Jack... I'm fine. I want to see what's underneath this helmet.”

“Okay. I'll wait in your office.”

“But aren't you curious?” LD asked.

Jack shrugged. “It's a dead guy. Unless there're any urgent briefings to attend, I suggest we take a long lunch break, buy some ice cream and take the dog for a long walk in the park.”

A brief smile passed the boy's face. “Okay.” He trudged after Sam, followed by the marines, Teal'c and Bra'tac.

“I'm not sure it's the right way to distract him, but hey, whatever floats his boat,” Jack muttered, once they were out of ear shot. 

Daniel swiped his card through the slot at the elevator door, his mind already on Nick's notes, when a hand settled on his arm. It was only a brief touch to get his attention, something Jack did unconsciously. Yet, Daniel felt a smile tugging at his lips at the simple gesture. He still wasn't used to Jack being tactile with him. The man had been so distant, so cold, until a couple weeks ago, that it was like a little shock when Jack occasionally patted his shoulder or nudged his elbow.

“Jackson? Ice cream, dog, walk in the park. You're invited.” 

“Actually, I want to go through Nick's things. The Giants gave me his notes and some stuff that belonged to him.” He hadn't had the chance to say goodbye to Nick. Reading his latest journal would be like having his grandfather with him for a little while longer. Or at least he'd learn what Nick had done over the last years. 

He was fine. He'd never been very close to Nick and while there was that stabbing of guilt for not checking on his grandfather more often, part of him felt rather detached about Nick's passing.

The kid, however, was upset and Daniel thought Little Daniel needed Jack to himself today. To talk about Nick. Or just to forget about Nick's death. Or simply to be distracted from it. Whatever helped him to deal with the emotions Nick's death evoked.

They were in the elevator now and Daniel could feel Jack's eyes rest on him. “I'm fine,” he declared automatically. “You take the kid and get out of here. It'll be good for him.”

“You sure?” There was real worry in the older man's voice. “He was your grandfather too, you know.”

“I know. But he had a long life and, in the end, a fulfilled life, too. I'm glad we took him with us to that planet, Jack. It meant so much to him,” he said, with feeling. “I'm glad he didn't have to end his life in that psych ward.” And that was the truth. Daniel realized he'd feel a lot worse if Nick had died in that psychiatric hospital in Oregon. 

Once the two men had entered LD's office they were greeted by Flyboy, who had been dozing on the couch. While Jack picked up a soggy bag of paper tissues from the floor, scolding the dog for chewing on it, Daniel looked through Nick's belongings. He had left them here when they had gone to the gate room.

Jack threw the drool covered tissues into the trash can next to Daniel's desk. “Stupid dog. One of these days he'll chew something not even his cast iron stomach can deal with. How'd he survive living in that slum in Cairo?”

“As you said, he has a strong stomach.” BD shrugged. “He probably lived on garbage before he found me.” Waving Nick's latest notes at Jack, he added, “If Daniel ever wants to read these...”

“Yeah,” Jack acknowledged, peering into a mug on LD's desk. “He's sneaked black coffee in here again... Wretch.” But there was no real annoyance in his voice. Scowling at the maps scattered all over the desk, Jack asked out of the blue, “You think going to Honduras will distract him enough so he won't have too much of a meltdown over Nick?” 

“We're going then? And you're taking him? Have you talked to Hammond about it?” 

Jack had been stalling on the subject so far, even though LD had been pushing and begging and reasoning with all of them. Daniel and the kid had worked on Nick's old notes about the Fountain of Youth subject. They'd figured out the writings they could never decipher in the past, were some obscure Goa'uld dialect mingled with Mayan words. Aside from telling the legend itself, the notes gave away the location of Telchak's temple complex in southern Honduras.

“Hammond is going to approve a mission if we have enough to be sure it's worth the trouble.”

“Well, we have the location of the temple...” Daniel began, but was cut off by Jack shaking his head. 

“We need the location of the device. He won't send anyone based on some notes and hunches. I'm just thinking theoretically... if we get to go, I might take Daniel. Don't tell him yet, though. We won't go if you two can't find more in those notes.” Jack eyed the journal in Daniel's hand. The one he had brought back from the Giants' planet. “You think there's more in there?”

“I doubt it. The Fountain of Youth was something Nick looked for when he was very young. Before he found the skull. He had long abandoned that search when he found the skull. They're totally unrelated to each other. I only expect to find notes about Nick's life with the Giants in this new journal.”

They sat on the couch together after nudging Flyboy aside, who indignantly lay down on the floor to Jack's feet. “How bad do you think it'll get?” Daniel eyed Jack, wondering how worried he was about the kid.

“Don't know. We never talked about Nick. As you know, they weren't very close. Still, he's his only living... was his only living relative,” Jack said vaguely. “I have no idea how much this'll get to him. How do you feel?”

“As you said... we weren't very close. I forgave Nick a long time ago for not taking me in after my parents died. You know we visited while he was with the Giants. It was...” Daniel searched for a word and finally settled for, “We had closure. I only regret I didn't visit him more often. But that's water under the bridge now.” After a moment of thought he added, “Of course Daniel's kid-side might have issues I successfully buried somewhere.” 

Jack groaned.

“You'll deal with it,” Daniel assured him.

Jack rolled his eyes and started to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of running feet in the hall. A live missile zoomed in, screeching to a halt in the middle of the room, gesturing at them wildly, eyes big as saucers. “Jack! BD! You got to see this! General Hammond and Sam said to get you! Come on! We're in the infirmary lab!”

Not waiting for their reply, he dashed out again, ignoring Jack's yell not to run.

“One of these days he'll crash into someone and get knocked over, the way he keeps galloping down the corridors,” Jack muttered while they followed the kid.

***

The sight that met them at the lab wasn't pretty. Jack made an eww-face and had strange visuals about skulls covered in jell-o. Granted, this jell-o wasn't blue, red or green. It was kinda gray-ish. But still... he was sure he'd never look at jell-o the same way after he had seen this... guy.

“What the...?” Jackson mumbled next to him, wrinkling his nose.

“It's a Goa'uld,” Carter informed them briskly, pointing at an X-ray of the alien's head and neck. There was a snake wound around its spinal column. “Though that's not the really shocking part.” 

“Whoa,” Jack hissed. “It's dead, right?” 

“Yes, sir.“

“What's going on with,” Jack pointed at the gelatin face, “jell-o guy here?” He could see the skull structure, teeth and jawbone inside the gray gel. 

The kid actually snickered. “Jell-o guy.”

Fraiser, who had been looking at the X-ray, too, explained, “It has an incredibly unusual organ structure. Everything's out of proportion. Physiologically, the heart and lungs had to be abnormally large to supply enough blood and oxygen to its muscles. Basically, it's like someone tried to genetically engineer the perfect athlete without any concern for longevity.”

“Leaving it to the symbiote to sustain its life,” Teal'c said. He and Bra'tac were in the lab, too. With all of them gathered around the table it was pretty crowded. 

“So this is... an engineered host,” Jackson assumed.

“Yes. But a seriously flawed one. Even a Goa'uld symbiote wouldn't be able to compensate for long. We're still in the process of analyzing genetic data. There's no evident trauma from energy weapons,” Fraiser said, giving Teal'c a poignant look. 

Carter chimed in. “The warrior's armor appears to possess some sort of advanced energy absorption technology. If it works the way I think it does, it wouldn't matter how many staff or zat blasts were fired. Nothing would get through. Apparently the host was on the verge of a pulmonary failure long before it encountered...”

“It had a heart attack,” Fraiser bottom lined it and, almost apologetically, added, “Sorry, Teal'c. You didn't stop it. You and Bra'tac just got lucky.”

Jack was sure the two Jaffa looked sullen there for a moment, before composing their features and bowing their heads in acknowledgment.

“This body is organic but was definitely created in a lab,” Fraiser went on. 

“Well, we know the Goa'uld have been trying to physically perfect a host that would be superior to humans,” LD piped up. “Nirrti would've been very proud.” 

“This thing's definitely a lot stronger than humans, but it's far from superior.” Carter frowned. 

“Traditionally the Goa'uld are also somewhat vain about their appearance,” the kid said, making as much of an ewww-face as Jack had before. “Maybe it's some kind of a foot soldier. The Jaffa are rebellious. Could it be that they're trying to create a new army?” Jack saw him reach out a hand to touch and growled. 

Innocent blue eyes were turned on him. “What? It's dead?” 

“It's also slimy. And has a snake inside. Dead or not. Hands off.”

LD chewed on his bottom lip, thinking it through and then putting his hands behind his back. “Do you think it's intelligent?” he asked Carter and Fraiser, who both shook their heads.

“There's no complex brain structure,” the Doc said. 

“But the Goa'uld inside has all the knowledge.” Jack objected.

“The question is, how much of the knowledge was passed on to his host. I think Daniel is right. He's probably some kind of Jaffa substitute. As such he doesn't need knowledge. Only training and fighting techniques.” Carter turned to Hammond. “Sir, I'd like to talk to the Tok'ra about this host. Maybe they can give us some intel on the technology of the suit or how the Goa'uld were able to create it.”

“Go ahead, Major. Keep me informed,” the general agreed. “SG-1, Colonel... I'd like you to stay on base until we know more of this host. I know it's Friday and you all have a free weekend ahead of you. But this might turn out to be important.” 

There went the ice cream and the walk in the park. Jack didn't like it, but he had no choice in the matter. Orders were orders. Well, they could always walk the dog in the woods on the complex.

“Take a walk,” Jackson said, apparently reading his thoughts. “I'll come get you when the Tok'ra arrive, or anything else happens.”

“What do you think?” Jack nudged his kid. “Had enough fun with jell-o guy? Come on. Let's get some fresh air.”

Surprisingly enough, LD came along without protests, asking if he could take a ball so they could play with Flyboy.

  
  


It was sunny and warm outside, patches of blue sky were visible through the trees, when they took their usual route through the woods. Flyboy was off the leash, running back and forth and around them, happy to be outside. He nudged Daniel with his nose, knowing there was the yellow rubber ball in the kid's hand.

Grinning, Daniel held the ball high over his head, then threw it along the path. Barking loudly, Flyboy dashed after it, then came back, ball in muzzle. He performed a funny dance on his hind-paws, dropped the ball in front of Daniel's feet, barking encouragingly. Daniel threw it again and off he went.

Jack watched them play for a while, leisurely walking the path behind them. Once they reached their favorite clearing, the dog was off to explore and re-claim his territory, the ball forgotten.

Daniel put it into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt and wiped his hands at his jeans to get rid of dog drool. “I don't want to talk about Nick,” he warned out of the blue.

“Didn't say you have to.”

“But you want me to,” he said conversationally. “You wanted to bribe me with ice cream and a trip to the park.”

“Dog likes to swim in the lake. And I do happen to like ice cream, too. Sorry we can't go, by the way.”

“Yeah, me too.” 

“So... what do you think about jell-o-guy,” Jack asked, not touching the Nick-subject with a ten-foot pole.

Daniel snickered at the name but sobered quickly. “I think it's disturbing. If that's the Goa'uld answer to the Jaffa rebellion... who knows what these fighting machines are capable off.”

“Looks like they blow whole Jaffa delegations to Netu,” Jack agreed thoughtfully. “Maybe he's just a proto type.”

“You should try and capture one alive. That way you'd be able to find out what they really are.”

“Interrogation.” Jack had thought about it himself and was sure that's exactly what Carter was going to suggest. “You can't watch a living one though,” he told Daniel. 

“Observation room?” Daniel squinted up at him. “It'd be perfectly safe from there.”

“We'll see.” 

“Oh, come on. Say yes. It's the first time in ages something interesting is happening on base.” 

Thoughts of Reese and a brain-dead Daniel surfaced and Jack stomped them down, focusing on the present.

“I'd say it's more alarming than interesting,” he muttered, then oomphed when Flyboy slammed into him from behind. “Hey!” Jack spun around and, as he was attacked again, found god knew how many pounds of dog plastered to himself. Shoving the paws off his chest, Jack began to wrestle with the black beast for a moment, pleased at the fits of laughter coming from Daniel. 

Once he was free again, he brushed grass and little twigs from his shirt, grimacing at the dusty paw prints all over his front. “We should let the dog do the interrogation.”

“Jack? Did Daniel talk to you about Nick?” 

“He said he was glad Nick didn't have to spend the rest of his life in the hospital,” Jack said cautiously, looking down at the blond head. Daniel was kicking at some tufts of grass, eyes on the ground.

“He's right. I'm too. Was he sad? Daniel, I mean?” 

Jack didn't know how to answer this one right away. Had Jackson been sad? He wasn't sure. Was Daniel sad? He couldn't tell. “It's never easy when a relative dies, Daniel. It's okay to be sad. No matter what was between you and Nick. I think he's sad, yeah. Not ... heart brokenly sad, maybe, but...”

“Is it okay not to be sad, too?” Daniel asked, his voice very low.

“What do you mean?”

“I dunno.”

“Daniel?” 

“I was worried before. When the Giants told us Nick was sick. I was scared Nick might be dead or would die. After all, he's the only grandfather I had. But now... Now I don't feel anything at all,” Daniel blurted out. “And that's not normal, right? I should feel something. I mean we weren't exactly close, but...”

“Hey, hey.” Jack touched his arm to stop him from walking on. Placing both hands on Daniel's shoulders, he turned him around. “Look at me.” When Daniel's troubled eyes met his, Jack continued, “You know what it's like sometimes. When bad news hit out of nowhere it takes some time to register and realize. Don't worry about it.”

“I'm not in some kind of shock.” Daniel bit his lip. “I was, when I thought you were dead. And when my parents died. And Sha'uri. I know how that feels. It's different now.” 

It was situations like this when Jack wished Daniel was more like a normal kid. That he'd give himself some slack and stopped reflecting on his feelings and thought processes too much. That he'd stop questioning himself all the damn time.

However, that was neither here nor there. Daniel was Daniel and Jack had stopped dwelling on the “ifs and buts” long ago, for the most part.

“Don't sweat it, kiddo. You and Nick didn't spend much time together when he was alive. Maybe that's affecting the way you feel about his death now.” 

“I visited him often when he was at that hospital. When I was thrown out of the academy we had a huge fight and he kicked me out, said I was even more insane than he was.”

“I know. And he was wrong; he understood that, too." 

“I should've visited him more often on that planet,” Daniel mumbled. “Only was there once and once he came to see me on Earth.”

_Oh, here we go._ “BD said that too, ya know. If you ask me, it works both ways. Nick could've come home for another visit anytime he wanted to. He chose not to. He was happy there.”

“You're right,” Daniel said much to Jack's surprise. And it didn't sound faked or forced. “It's just so odd he's gone now. And nothing seems to change. He wasn't here before and he's not here now. I thought... when we waited for SG-1 to come back... I thought it'd be horrible if Nick was dead. That I'd feel terrible. And I wanted to meet him. I was wondering what it'd be like to... you know, being a kid again and seeing my grandfather. But now... I don't feel anything. Does that make any sense?” 

“Oh, yeah.” Jack had relatives he hadn't met once in his adult life, or only briefly. When his mom had called and told him this or that aunt had passed, he had felt a pang of sympathy for his mother's grief. But other than that he’d just gone on with life. If there was no connection, the death of a distant relative was kind of abstract. Jack had felt more grief for foes he killed in the field eye to eye at times. So yeah. He knew where Daniel was coming from. 

In many ways, Nick had always been a stranger to his grandson. And as far as Jack was concerned, it was the old man's loss. He knew Nick had regretted not taking Daniel in when his parents died. They had tried to repair what they could, once they were re-united again. But Jack also knew it never worked out to become a real family relationship. And he was sure it wasn't just the long distance that kept Daniel and Nick apart.

Daniel surged forwards and impulsively hugged Jack around his middle, whispering, “Thanks” into Jack's jacket.

“For what?” Jack cupped the back of Daniel's head, rubbing through the blond hair.

Daniel shrugged, pushed back and ran off to find his dog.

They got their ice cream after all. The commissary didn't have the real good stuff they'd get at the park, but it was still chocolate ice cream. Daniel got some on his shirt and his nose, like it should be when kids got involved with ice cream. He was still rubbing at the spot on his shirt with a paper napkin when they left.

Carter had called. Apparently Jacob had joined them and they had some news.

So they all gathered in the lab again, except Bra'tac who had gone back through the gate to have words with several other Jaffa about the new soldier type.

Everyone else stood around the table with the black-suited guy. It wasn't an official briefing, so Jack didn't send the kid away, even though there was no particular reason to involve him in this any further.

Jacob looked down at the alien's skull, not hiding his dislike for what he saw. “What's interesting is that this being wasn't alive when it was first grown. It was given life after it reached its mature state.”

“Like Frankenstein?” LD grimaced. 

“Actually, yes. There are remnants of a unique energy signature within its cells. It's similar to the residual effects left by the use of a sarcophagus.” Eyes flashing briefly, Jacob switched to Selmak and the expression on his face turned into a worried one. 

“Could a sarcophagus give life to something that was never alive in the first place?” Jackson asked.

The Tok'ra shook his head. “No. It's only designed to boost health and longevity, heal or revive someone terminally injured. They're nowhere near powerful enough to animate non-living cellular matter.”

“Then what could have?” 

“Thousands of years ago a Goa'uld found a device created by the Ancients. He determined its primary purpose was to heal. But it was so powerful, its effects on human hosts ultimately proved devastating. However, after much research and experimentation, the Goa'uld used the technology to create the first sarcophagus. The Tok'ra have long sought this device in the hope of using it to perfect the sarcophagus technology, so that we could all benefit from it. Now, it may be the key to fighting this new warrior. With the device, we may be able to devise a weapon to counteract this life-giving energy.”

Jack noticed the two Daniels exchanging a stunned look, then LD asked breathlessly, “Selmak? Who was the Goa'uld who found the device?” 

“His name was Telchak.”

***

Three hours later, Bra'tac returned.

General Hammond, SG-1, Bra'tac, Jacob, Jack and the two Daniels were settled around the briefing room table. The Daniels, with some insight from Teal'c, had just informed everyone about the Fountain of Youth legend and Telchak's connection to Anubis.

“Anubis never found the device of Telchak. But later, when he ascended, he gained all the knowledge of the Ancients. When he was thrown out by the others, he didn't lose this knowledge. He would be capable of back engineering the device, to create a lifeform like the jell... um... the warrior,” LD finished his report.

One more puzzle piece had fallen into place. Ever since he had the vision about the device created by Telchak, he had waited for the day when he would need this knowledge.

Another step forward, he thought, and a shiver of fear joined his excitement. One step closer to... what? Defeating Anubis? And what if he couldn't? What if he... Daniel pushed these thoughts away, into a far corner of his mind.

Bra'tac's scarred face was creased with a deep frown of worry. “If Anubis is truly behind this, then his strategy is to assassinate any minor Goa'uld vulnerable to attack, absorbing their troops and resources, in preparation for battle with Ba'al and the System Lords. There is word that several minor system lords suffered attacks from these beings.”

“How many?” Hammond wanted to know.

“At least three. These new warriors are devastating. They are a great threat to all who hope to one day see the Goa'uld wither in defeat.”

“Indeed,” Teal'c rumbled. 

“If Doctor Jackson can recover this Telchak device, the Tok'ra will do their best to engineer a weapon from it which we can use against the new soldier type,” Jacob said. “However, there is no guarantee we can.”

Sam nodded slowly, pointing out, “We could only learn a limited amount from our study of the dead warrior and its armor. The only way to learn more is through interrogation.”

“Which means you have to capture one alive,” Jack bottom lined it. “Question is – how do we know where one of them will show up?”

As it turned out, Bra'tac had the answer to this. “Ramius did survive the attack of the soldier.”

“Ramius?” Jack raised his eyebrows.

Daniel patted his arm and reminded him that Ramius was one of the two system lords who wanted to forge an alliance. The other one had been killed by the dead soldier currently lying in Sam's lab. Jack mouthed, “Ah,” and waved at Bra'tac to go on.

“That Ramius is still alive makes him a possible target. There are many rebel Jaffa under his command. That fact will allow us access to the planet. We will go there and capture one of the warriors when it comes through the Chaapa'ai.”

“What if one doesn't come through?” Jack asked.

“Then we have to think of Plan B,” BD said helpfully.

“And what exactly is plan B?”

“Whatever comes to mind?” 

“It is most likely that Bra'tac is right. We will meet his contacts on Ramius's planet and set up an ambush,” Teal'c interrupted the starting banter.

“And how are you going to make jell-o guy accompany you back through the gate without shooting him?” Jack wasn't happy and Daniel knew it. 

He had seen the objection all over Jack's face as they listened to Sam's report on the black-suited soldier.

Apparently his armor could resist their strongest piercing weapons, as well as absorb energy weapon fire. But they'd discovered the black suit was made of a close-knit fiber which was similar to Kevlar. “Something like a small trinium dart should be able to penetrate the suit. We'll use a Tok'ra force field to trap the warrior, and then hit it with tranquilizers,” Sam said.

“All right. You have a go when you are ready, Major. Take Colonel Reynolds and his team with you,” the general decided. 

Sam hurried out of the room, followed by Teal'c, Baxter and Bra'tac.

General Hammond exchanged looks with his 2IC, and Daniel could see the tension in his friend by the way Jack's jawline was set and how he fiddled with his pen. A pang of guilt hit him. It was his fault Jack wasn't going off world anymore. Just because he'd had such a hard time dealing with some of his nightmares and had become so clingy for a while after what happened to Jack on Anubis's ship.

If something happened to SG-1...

Daniel tried to be reasonable. Sam was a great soldier. Jack wouldn't have recommended her for command if he didn't think she could do it.

The general faced the remaining four people in the room. Well, five, actually if one counted Jacob and Selmak as two persons. “What do we know about the location of this Telchak device?”

“We know about a temple. However, Nick's notes are a bit sketchy so we're not sure the device is really there. But Nick found the legend of the Fountain of Youth written on the walls and – according to his notes – he couldn't write it all down because parts were missing,” Daniel reported.

BD nodded. “According to Nick's notes, Chac's... which is the original name the god Telchak posed as... temple was located near four waterfalls, close to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.”

“How can we be certain the device is there?” Hammond asked, eyes narrowed.

“Uh, we can't but, um…” BD looked at Daniel, who could only shrug. 

“So it's only a guess,” the general said.

“Yeah,” Daniel said, “but it's a good one. If we find this temple, we might find whatever Nick missed of the writings and that might lead us to the device. It might still be here on Earth.”

“I agree,” Selmak said. 

“And I had a vision about it, when we were in Minnesota,” Daniel hurried to remind the general. “I guess this is the sign we should go to Honduras and find it.” He tried to curb his excitement. There was a lot more at stake here than just his own entertainment. Still, the idea of actually going somewhere to explore and being useful, thrilled him 

And then Jack said the words and Daniel knew the rest was just a formality. “I think the kid has a point, sir.”

“You do realize that Honduras isn't exactly safe territory, Colonel. Are you willing to take the risk?”

“I am, sir.” 

“Very well then. You'll have to wait until I made all the calls to approve this. And all three of you will have to wear GPS, in case something goes wrong.” General Hammond's water-blue eyes settled on Daniel. “You will go with Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson as a member of their team, Daniel. I expect you to follow the chain of command and stay out of trouble, understood?”

Daniel sat up straight and gave a loud and clear, “Yes sir, understood.”

Next to him Jack gave a low snort, but LD ignored him as he pushed himself off the table and jumped from his chair.

“I'll let you know when your plane at Peterson's will be ready. Dismissed,” Hammond released them. 

Jack let out a whoop of air and stood. “All right. Let's go packing. Jackson, you talk to Fraiser about the dog.”

“Excuse me?” BD, who had been shuffling through his notes, looked up and frowned. “The dog is living with you.”

“And? So? Therefore?”

“You talk to Janet about taking him.”

“It's your dog, too.”

“Currently it's more yours. Custody and all that.”

Daniel rolled his eyes at the two men. “You're both chicken,” he announced. “I'll ask her.”

“That's my boy,” Jack grinned, clapping his back. “I'll meet you at your office. Don't dawdle.”

  
  


On their way home, Daniel could hardly sit still. He had a thousand things to think over and a hundred things to pack. They had left Flyboy on base with Janet, who had agreed to take care of the dog without batting an eyelid. She'd said Cassie and her own dog would love to have Flyboy with them.

Daniel had never been to South America before and hoped Telchack's temple had a lot to offer. The Mayan culture was fascinating and he hoped to have time for some throughout exploring.

It was going to be great. They would hike and set up camp, sit around a fire and – depending on how far that temple was away from the hotel – sleep in tents. Daniel would get to read writings from temple walls,... it'd be like old times. It'd be as if he still was on SG-1 as a full team member. The only damper on his enthusiasm was that Sam and Teal'c wouldn't be with them, and his worries something might happen to them while they tried to capture one of these new soldiers alive.

They spent the afternoon packing. Jack made him write a list of what he needed and then made him going over that list and cross out every thing that would make his backpack too heavy.

”I'll carry your duffel bag, but you'll have to take care of your pack yourself. And you have to leave the duffel bag at the hotel anyway,” he pointed out. 

When Daniel was done packing, Jack picked up the duffel bag, groaned, and made Daniel unpack and repack it. 

“You said if I have anything heavy, it should go into the big bag because you can carry it,” Daniel complained while he took out a couple of books and other things.

“Which actually requires me being able to carry it. I have my own stuff, too,” Jack growled. “What am I? A donkey? Aht, don't answer that!”

Okay, so maybe Daniel had overdone it a bit. But, hey, he was excited. He really was. And it had been some time since he'd gone on a mission. Once Jack was finally satisfied with everything Daniel had packed, he had to tidy up his room, make his bed and help Jack to lock all windows and doors. Then Jack sent him over to the neighbor to leave the spare key there.

Trevor was old and Daniel didn't like his ugly cat very much. But he was a retired military man and reliable. Trevor would never set foot in Jack's house, other than to put the mail into the kitchen or water the plants, unless there was a real emergency. He never asked questions either, about where they were going or anything.

When Daniel re-entered the house with his own key and called out for Jack, the answer came from the living room. Jack was slouched on the couch, holding an open water bottle in his hand.

“Trevor says to tell you it's all right, he'll watch the house.” Daniel sat next to him.

“Good. Have everything ready?” 

Suddenly Daniel realized Jack had been very quiet ever since they'd left the mountain, aside from his grumbling about Daniel's packing skills.

And Daniel knew why.

He squirmed on the couch, trying to find the right words. Finally he just blurted out, “They're going to be all right, Jack. SG-1, I mean.”

Jack gave him a surprised look, then smiled slightly, “I know, kiddo. And Reynold's team'll have their sixes.”

“Do you have a bad feeling? About that warrior? Do you think they'll get hurt?”

“No,” Jack said, but there was something dark in his eyes. Daniel knew how much Jack hated to have his team go out on risky missions without him. Except now it wasn't his team anymore and he wasn't in charge. But that was just a formality. SG-1 would always be Jack's team.

Just like Daniel would always feel like a member of SG-1.

And he had to bite his lip not to tell Jack that, in a way, it was his own fault. He hadn't asked Jack to give up the lead of SG-1. But Jack had done it for him, so in the end it was really Daniel's fault. And he knew Jack didn't want to hear that either. So he kept quiet.

Jack reached into his pocket and handed Daniel a small red object. “I thought you might like this. It's not a weapon, really. But it probably comes in handy.”

It was a Swiss army knife, featuring many extras such as a tooth pick, scissors, tweezers and a small rasp. “Cool. Thanks Jack. I had one of those, before. But I must have lost it somewhere.”

“It's probably in storage. I had this lying around the house for some time. Just don't try to kill something with it,” Jack grinned. “It's for survival purpose only.”

“I won't. You know me, Words are my weapon... mostly.” 

Jack stood and looked down at him, a lopsided grin on his face. “Well, peaceful explorer of mine... get your gear together.” 


	3. Evolution III

**III**

The air was heavy with humidity and the smell of rain, mingled with the sweet scent of flowers in bloom. Santa Lucia was known for its many beautiful gardens. Tropical flowers were cultivated and later sold on the markets in the capital city. It was night already, the starry sky dark-blue velvet with twinkling diamonds in the distance.

The mild evening air and soft pitter-patter of drizzle on the canopy had a calming effect on Daniel, almost made him feel like he was on vacation. The few people settled around the tables on the outdoor dining area of the  _La Posada de Doña Estefana_ were either eating or reading, or just gazing out at the mountains and down into the valley where Tegucigalpa lay, an ocean of city lights in the velvety darkness. 

He closed his eyes briefly as he savored the smell of the rich Arabic coffee before taking a sip.

Yes, this was great stuff. Strong and hot. Not his favorite blend, Sumatra Manderling, but he loved trying new coffee brands and chocolates. He didn't drink much alcohol and he didn't smoke. So he indulged himself with coffee and chocolate.

And this coffee WAS great. He had tasted it black first to get an idea of its flavor, then had poured a small amount of cream in and tried it again before he'd added two sugars. His littlefied version was known to have his coffee black from time to time if he could get away with it and Big Daniel wondered what was up with that. He liked his coffee with one cream and two sugars. Always had. Maybe LD was just trying to make a point by having his coffee black on occasions. What point, BD didn't know exactly. Must have something to do with the fact LD didn't get nearly as much coffee as he liked these days. Or maybe it was about showing the world that he could decide on his own how to have his coffee, no matter how old he was. Or regardless of what Jack wanted him to put into his coffee.

Sipping more of the hot beverage, BD mused that being 'the real size' definitely had its upsides. Like drinking coffee without restrictions on how much and when to drink it...

“You'll stay up all night if you keep this up.” 

Then again...

It probably didn't matter what size he was.

Daniel put his cup down. “It's great. You should try it.” He wasn't going to get defensive. It would just lead into a bitching session about whether or not he had too much coffee. And he wasn't Little Daniel, so Jack just had to suck it up.

“I will. For breakfast,” Jack growled into his beer. “That's what you should do.”

“Oh, I'll have coffee for breakfast,” BD said lightly.

Jack fiddled with his glass. “I'm just saying. Guide's picking us up at dawn. You're of no use if you're cranky and tired just because you went to bed over caffeinated.”

“I had dinner. Then coffee. I do that a lot, you know.... Coffee after dinner.” Great. Now he WAS getting defensive. Grimacing, Daniel took another sip. 

“It's after midnight. Dinner was hours ago. You should,” Jack lazily waved in the general direction of the houses, “go to bed.”

“Sure, _D_ _ad_ ,” Daniel snorted. “What about you?” The kid had gone to bed already, tired from the flight and the long drive out to their hotel. 

“What about me? And if you ever call me _dad_ again, I'll shoot you,” Jack bickered.

“Old men need their sleep. Especially if they plan to lead expeditions through unknown jungle. Trees and temples, snakes and unknown plants...”

“Rain,” Jack groused. “Don't forget to mention the rain.” 

“It's May.” Daniel shrugged.

“And? So? Therefore?”

“Rainy season. May to September. LD mentioned it at the briefing. And on the plane.”

“Doesn't mean I have to like it,” Jack grumbled. “And the beer tastes dull. Why is it called _Salva Vida_ anyway?”

“It means...”

“Lifesaver, yeah, I know. My Spanish's not that rusty, Its not saving anything though. Not even my mood.” 

Which brought Daniel to the point of why he was still sitting out here, despite the fact that they would be up and hiking at dawn. Because, truth be told, he was tired and would've gone to sleep some time ago. There was nothing more to research or read before their trip to the temple ruins. He and LD had studied Nick's map and notes one last time this afternoon and there was nothing else to work on before tomorrow.

So there was nothing exciting or important enough to keep him from going to sleep...

Except...

“They'll be okay, Jack,” he said quietly, knowing exactly what had been bugging Jack all day. He had tried to act normal in front of the kid. But Daniel was sure LD hadn't been fooled either. 

“I know that,” Jack snapped, irritated. 

“Just because you're not in command anymore doesn't mean SG-1 isn't capable of doing their job,” Daniel told him bluntly. “They did capture the jell-o soldier without you, too.” 

Daniel knew it hadn’t gone as planned, though. But then, when did it ever? SG-1 and SG-3 had returned from the mission in the middle of the night, a couple of hours before Jack and the Daniels were due to depart for Honduras. While LD had been asleep at his base quarter, BD and Jack had been called into the debriefing.

The black suited soldier had turned out to be immune to the tranquilizer darts and not even C4 was able to knock him out. He had also walked through Sam's energy shield like it was nonexistent. Then Ramius' Jaffa had attacked the SG teams on the planet. They had to surrender and let themselves be captured. Teal'c and Bra'tac had finally convinced Ramius's First Prime that the real enemy was still out there. Once released from prison by the First Prime himself, both SG teams had made it to a cargo ship. Sam had come up with the plan to ring up the jell-o soldier and void the cargo bay of life support as soon as it was on board.

Once unconscious, the jell-o-soldier could easily be tied up and brought home.

BD and Jack had watched the interrogation afterward. It hadn't been cooperative and after a first round of useless questions, Jacob had used a memory recall device on it, which provided them with some insight.

It turned out the jell-o solider really served Anubis.

It had all the strength and healing powers of a normal Goa'uld, but none of the normal personality traits. There was no ego, no intellect, no personality. It was merely created to serve and follow orders.

Thanks to the memory recall device and a starmapping technology of the Tok'ra, they'd been able to pinpoint the location of the soldier's home world, called Tartarus. According to the Tok'ra Anubis had a fortress on Tartarus. A powerful sensor array prevented anyone from approaching the planet unnoticed. The gate on Tartarus was inside the structure and had a powerful force field protecting it. 

Hammond, well aware it was a nearly impossible task, had pointed out they needed to know how Anubis created these soldiers, how many there were and what his intentions were. Aside from planning an attack to Earth in the future.

So SG-1 had gated to another planet and taken a cargo ship from there. They would now be on their way to Tartarus to face Anubis and his new army, while Jack O'Neill was stuck in Honduras, looking for temple ruins. Jack had wished Sam luck. He hadn't tried to hold her back or talk Hammond into letting him join the mission instead of going to Honduras. He had gritted his teeth and smiled tightly when he'd seen SG-1, Jacob and Bra'tac off through the gate, reminding them to mind the curfew and be back soon.

“They'll be okay,” Daniel said again, more forcefully. 

“I know that,” Jack hissed back, slamming his beer on the table. “I don't wanna talk about it.” 

“Okay.” Daniel finished his coffee. 

“It was my decision to leave the team. Carter's more than capable of pulling this off.”

“Yes, she is,” Daniel replied softly, knowing Jack was right and yet understanding his friend's issues. 

“The kid needs me. I should've stopped going off world a long time ago.” Jack pushed his beer away and looked up. The warm yellow light of the candle on the table couldn't hide the weariness in the older man's eyes. 

“Baxter knows how to defend himself, too. And unlike me, he actually knows how to follow orders,” Daniel joked. 

“Bra'tac and Teal'c'll watch their six,” Jack continued absently, ignoring what Daniel said. “I just don't like the extra pressure on Carter, with Jacob posing as Mr. Jell-o guy in that suit. It's never easy when there's family involved.” 

“Jack, she can handle it,” Daniel soothed. “You know she can.”

Jacob had volunteered to go through the gate on Tartarus, disguised as the soldier because the force field surrounding the gate wouldn't harm him as long as he was wearing the black armor suit. Once inside of Anbuis's base he'd deactivate the sensor array while SG-1 and Bra'tac would wait in orbit on the cloaked ship. Once the sensor array was down, the ship could approach the planet.

“I know she can. I just said it adds extra pressure when there's family involved. Especially when you're in command.” Jack grimaced. “Guess Carter'll turn gray like me in a couple of years.” 

For a moment they sat in silence. There was no need to point out the various scenarios of everything that could go wrong.

They were facing Anubis.

And Jack wasn't the only one who felt he should be there.

Daniel wished he was there, too. Not to mention Little Daniel, whom they had clued in on SG-1's mission this morning on their way to the airport.

None of them would truly be at ease until they knew their friends were alright at least. The outcome of what SG-1 might discover on Anubis's base was yet a different story.

“We better get some shut eye.” Jack's voice pulled Daniel out of his thoughts. 

“Are you okay?” He pushed his chair back and stood, facing Jack who did the same.

“I'm fine.”

“That's my line,” Daniel huffed, then grinned as they walked to the hotel, the darkness only illuminated by the candles on the tables and the full moon looming somewhere above them. 

***

They sauntered along the line of doors with room numbers, until they reached Jackson's room. The room Jack shared with LD was next to it. They both fumbled out their keys and said their good-nights.

Jack quietly closed the door behind himself and looked at the lump in the single bed on the opposite wall.

For a second his heartbeat quickened and he was sure Daniel had left the room to do god knew what. Take a walk, find the temple alone... or that he'd been kidnapped by some rouge NID guys. Jack was so used to having the black beast of a dog around to stand guard over the kid by now. Not having Flyboy here and leaving Daniel alone in the hotel room was kind of perturbing.

But then the lump on the bed stirred and mumbled something incoherent and Jack called himself an idiot as he walked to the window and opened it so that only the fly screen kept the mosquitoes out.

Immediately the distant sound of dripping rain and the smell of some exotic flowers filled the room.

“Jack!” 

The panicked gasp had him hurry over to the bed where Daniel began tossing and turning, his hands scrabbling for something to hold onto. “No! Jack!”

“Daniel.” He took hold of the trembling shoulders and gave the kid a gentle shake. “It's just another nightmare, kiddo. I'm okay, nobody's gonna kill me. I'm here, come out of it.” It was a mantra, used many times over the nights since Jack and BD had almost died on Anubis's ship. 

It didn't take long for Daniel to snap out of it by now, but that particular nightmare kept coming back to haunt him.

Jack wrapped his arms around him and started rocking. “I've got ya, Danny-boy, I've got ya.” He felt Daniel's shaking breaths against his shirt.

“I'm sooo tired of this,” the kid finally moaned and pushed back, rubbing his eyes. 

“Hey,” Jack said softly. He was glad he'd returned to his room before the nightmare had Daniel in its clutches. Experience had taught him that it mostly happened sometime after midnight. 

“I don't know what's more creepy. Seeing you die, or looking under Anubis's hood,” Daniel sighed, wrenching his arms around himself. “Feels like he's trying to swallow me in whole. Into that... energy thing where his face used to be.” 

Jack felt a cold shudder run down his spine. There were times when he couldn't wait until Anubis finally came out of the shadows. Jack dreaded the day when – according to the Daniels and Oma Desalla – Anubis would attack Earth and SG-1 would meet him in a showdown. But at the same time, waiting for it to happen seemed equally as bad.

Jack was a soldier. He could do war and fights. He didn't like it, but he was trained for and good at it. 

Dealing with an “invisible” threat, waiting for prophecies made by witches and ascended beings to come true... that he really had issues with. Anubis was out there and now that they finally knew where to find him, SG-1 had been sent out to spy on him and sabotage the jell-o-soldiers if possible.

And Jack wished he could've gone with them to kill the bastard off once and for all. To hell with prophecies, caution and all that nonsense.

But instead they had to wait and let things go their natural course as much as possible. It was what Jackson hammered into them over and over again, ever since he'd emerged from the sands of Egypt last year....

Daniel lay back on his pillow and yawned. A small hand found Jack's and squeezed. “Can you stay 'till I'm asleep again?”

Whenever the nightmare showed its ugly face, Daniel asked Jack to stay. And each time, Jack brushed the hair away from the kid's forehead, replying, “You bet.”

Sometimes, when Anubis returned for more than once a night, or other bad dreams followed after this particular one – and, by god, Daniel had had enough traumatic events happen in his life to have a wide range of bad dreams – the kid would crawl into Jack's bed and hide under the covers, his hand anchored to Jack's, holding on for dear life.

Jack wasn't allowed to share this embarrassing fact with anyone, not even with Svenson.

He sat on Daniel's bed, his hand still captured in a vice like grip. Daniel let out a sigh and closed his eyes. While Jack sat there, waiting for the kid to fall asleep again, his thoughts drifted back to Anubis.

He was itching to act instead of waiting for the snake head to attack.

Except there was no way of knowing how large Anubis's army of jell-o-soldiers was and they needed intel on the basics in order to act. So SG-1 would hopefully come home in one piece with useful information.

They'd be prepared.  The Daniels said so and Jack had every confidence and trust in both of them, that they knew what they were doing.

Most of the time.

Still it wasn't easy. Patience had never been one of Jack's strong virtues.

The prophecy even had a time line. Going with what Jackson and Pierson knew, Anubis was going to pay them a visit in a year from now, give or take a couple of months. But there was a flaw in this and Jack didn't kid himself. It was probably a huge flaw.

Anubis knew about the prophecy.

He had used one of those mind probes on Jack while they had been guests on Anubis's ship. So he knew the kid was a potential threat to his plans.

Ba'al had blown up the ship in orbit around Abydos, shortly after Jack and Jackson escaped. It had given them some time to breathe and recharge batteries, believing the loss of the ship and so many Jaffa would leave Anubis at least wounded.

However, Jack had been worrying his ass off secretly, wondering if the rat bastard would get them by surprise, attacking Earth when they least expected it. Just because Anubis was supposed to attack in a year or so, didn't mean he had to stick to the rules, right? Or he could snatch the kid to make sure Daniel wouldn't fulfill his destiny as the savior of Earth.

He was a Goa'uld, for crying out loud. He didn't do fair play.

From the day Daniel had been downsized, Jack's protection radar was on alert all the time anyway. Sure, nothing had happened, yet. Jack was relatively sure Anubis wouldn't just ring down and grab the kid. He had bigger fish to fry for now. Like dealing with Ba'al, who, according to Bra'tac, was on Anubis's heels to out-power him in the snake club. Ba'al and Anubis were the biggest sharks in the pond now and while Jack had never met Ba'al in person, he had heard some pretty nasty tales from Teal'c.

But it seemed that Anubis had been busy building a new army. Jack was sure that somewhere down the line, Daniel was on his agenda as well.

Daniel's small hand that had been curled around Jack's, became lax and slid down on the covers. Patting the still face one last time, Jack got up and quietly stripped down to his underwear before crawling into his own bed.

***

LD had been excited about going to Honduras. He had expressed his excitement as he always had, even when he'd still been big. He talked a lot. Reading a travel guide of Tegucigalpa on the plane had been interesting and he had shared everything he thought was worth sharing with Jack and BD, then added some of his basic knowledge about the Mayan ruins and what he expected to find at the temple they were looking for.

Jack had soon feigned sleep while BD had added his own to Daniel's enthusiasm and they had stuck their heads together over the travel guide, looking for interesting areas they'd like to explore if they had more time on their hands.

Yep, Daniel was still excited about hiking the jungle and finding Nick's temple.

His excitement didn't include being shaken awake in the middle of the night, though. Daniel didn't do early if he had a choice. So his excitement was muted while he staggered to the bathroom, washed his face, scrubbed his hands through his hair, brushed his teeth and squinted through his glasses. He sulked his way through getting dressed and being dragged out for breakfast.

Jack had paid the restaurant owner a small fortune for an early coffee and Tamales de Elote, fresh corn cakes served with raisins. Daniel grimaced at the plate that appeared in front of him.

Only when the cup of steaming hot coffee was placed on the table, did he come around slowly. Sipping his morning treat, he looked over at a similarly sleepy BD and Jack, who looked like he’d already had a morning run. Jack was annoyingly awake in the mornings, no matter how early, even though he appreciated sleeping in on Sundays.

“Daniel,” Jack said meaningfully.

“Jack?” Daniel replied, rubbing his eyes, almost causing his glasses to fall off and into the corn cake.

“Eat,” Jack said, knowing Daniel couldn't probably handle more than one word sentences yet. After a heartbeat he added, “Both of ya.” 

“Mmpfh,” Daniel grumbled as he picked up the cake. 

“Early,” BD muttered. 

Jack sighed. “At least take them with you for later.”

  
  


Much to Little Daniel's delight, Rogelio, their guide, arrived in his cousin's truck. That meant they didn't have to hike all the way up into the rain forest and he could take his time to wake up properly. They threw their packs in the back and made themselves as comfortable as possible in the vehicle. “It has seen better days,” Rogelio admitted and shrugged. “But it will save us a lot of time. Of course my cousin needs you to pay for the gas.”

“How far will it get us?” Jack asked, pulling out some cash and handing it to Rogelio.

“Thank you. Well, Senor, we can't drive up into the cloud forests, but we can go past the coffee plantations and further up until it will get too steep to drive. From there we hike. Can I see your map again?” The young man frowned at the map BD showed him. “I know we already discussed this. But are you sure that's where you want to go?”

“Yep. That's the place,” Jack said.

Rogelio still looked doubtful. “But there are no temples there, Senor. What you want to do is go north. That's where all the good stuff is. There's lots of ruins.”

BD pointed at their destination on the map. “Yeah, I'm sure north is great, but we really want to go here.”

Rogelio raised his hands in defeat. “Oh, okay, okay, okay… it's your money. Don't say I didn't warn you though.”

In the first light of day they left St. Lucia behind and were soon rumbling over uneven roads into the jungle. The truck slithered and lurched through muddy patches on the ground and due to the high humidity they were soon all drenched in sweat.

However, slowly being more awake, Daniel admired the landscape. It was very different from the desert parts of Egypt and seemed even more alien than some of the planets they had visited.

Wherever the jungle hadn't been cleared to make space for farmland or coffee plantations, the green of the forest was thick as a curtain, inhabiting its rightful territory. From time to time they crossed plantations with large white-washed houses and beautiful gardens in between the coffee fields.

But the higher up they traveled, civilization became less and less evident.

“It’s cooling off,” Jack said with relief. He took off his cap and rubbed a hand through his damp hair, making it stick out in all directions.

“Up in the clouds it'll be even cooler,” Rogelio explained. “The place you guys want to go is around 8200 feet above sea level. It can be cold up there.”

“Peachy,” Jack muttered, then cursed when the truck hit a bump in the road.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Rogelio asked.

“Whatever history has left for us to find,” BD replied cryptically.

“Hidden treasures of gold and artifacts,” LD said. “Like Indy.”

“Indy?” Rogelio gave him a blank look.

“Indiana Jones,” all three of them replied as one.

Rogelio shook his head. “Tourists.” He laughed.

They left the truck at a deserted tourist information point and geared up for the difficult part of the journey. It was noon by now and while it had indeed cooled off, the humidity was even worse. For once Daniel was glad to be the smallest one of their party. He had the lightest backpack to carry, with just his journal, pen and some necessary things like a medkit and a copy of their map. His water canteen was attached to his belt. The red Swiss army knife Jack had given him before they'd left home was in Daniel's vest pocket.

Jack and BD had the MRE and the tents to carry. BD also carried the archaeological tools. And, of course, they were both armed. Daniel knew they were carrying handguns and knives.

All Rogelio carried was a small backpack and a self-pitching tent, a hat and a radio. They all had radios, in case they might lose each other or had to call for medical help.

“So, your folks decided to give you some practical lessons in history? That's better than school, I bet,” Rogelio chatted as they slowly wandered uphill. 

“It's part of my home schooling program,” Daniel said.

“Fantastico. Muchos better than school.”

“Yeah.” 

“I went to school till I was fourteen. My family couldn't afford sending me to college. But my cousin taught me. English and some business things. One day I want to have my own business,” Rogelio went on, swatting at the mosquitoes surrounding them.

“Like what?” Daniel asked, offering the man a piece of bubble gum which he took with a nodded thanks.

“Trucking business maybe. There's always transportation needed. Or my own cantina. The one I work now belongs to my uncle. First I need the cash to start. What are your plans, amigo?”

“I'm gonna be an archaeologist. And an anthropologist,” Daniel replied. 

“Like your uncle, huh? Runs in the family?”

“Yeah. My grandfather... my grandfather is... was an archaeologist, too.” Daniel was surprised by the sting he felt at the thought of Nick. Until now he had barely thought about his grandfather's passing. He had been occupied with preparing for the trip and worrying about the rest of SG-1 and their mission. 

Nick and he hadn't parted in anger or frustration the last time they met. But there had been no real closeness between them either. No cozy childhood memories connected to Nick. And once they had found each other again after the encounter with the crystal skull, they had to say good bye once more when Nick stayed with the Giants. From there they’d seen each other on occasions. And while it had been nice to have a relative to visit, they’d both kept an emotional distance.

Daniel wondered what his grandfather's reaction to a downsized grandson would've been. Now he'd never find out. Then again, Nick never liked children much. So it was probably better Daniel didn't have to find out.

“Traditions are good,” Rogelio nodded. “Family is good, too.”

Daniel looked back over his shoulder at Jack and his big counterpart, who were walking next to each other, quietly talking about something.

“Yes,” Daniel replied. “Family is good.”

Soon the conversations died as the slope they were hiking on became steeper and muddier. Rogelio explained that the rainforest was built like a five story building. The lowest level was the forest floor, followed by the shrub layer and then the understory.

The forest floor was the ground layer, made up of the trunks of trees, fungus, and low-growing vegetation, The shrub layer was characterized by shrubby species and trees that grew only up to 20 feet.

Now they had reached the understory with more widely spaced, smaller tree species and juvenile plants that formed a broken layer below the canopy.

The canopy was the dense ceiling of closely spaced trees and their branches.

That's where they were heading.

Up into the clouds.

Daniel felt the moisture like a film on his skin. Everything around them was wet. At the same time the air became cooler and the canopy of trees more and more dense. And to his amazement the vegetation changed again and again, the higher they went. At one point they had to literally cut their way through a bamboo like plant growing everywhere, blocking their path. Rogelio pulled a bush knife from his belt and took lead.

Soon the prominent plant life underneath the huge palms, banana and Guanacaste trees all mixed together, consisted of mosses and orchid which seemed to cover every branch and trunk like a carpet.

Strange looking succulents were growing from the trees, forming little islands in every tree nook. Most of them looked like aloes, but some of them had red flowers growing on them.

And it seemed to drip and drizzle everywhere. They heard the rushing of waterfalls and the gurgling of small creeks coming down the mountains. The mosses were like sponges and Daniel could see water drops glistering on all the plants.

It was incredibly beautiful.

At one point a huge spider net hung across the path, tiny water droplets glistering in the threads. Daniel felt a pang of remorse when Rogelio's Bush knife cut through and destroyed it.

Jack uttered something about bugs and BD snorted.

They took a long break at a small creek near their slope. Rogelio encouraged them to wash their faces and drink from the water. “It's the most clean water you can get, filtered through all the moss and tree roots,” he said. “This forest is like a water factory, really.”

Everything was damp. And even though their sandwiches from the MRE were protected by their pouches, Daniel felt like he was eating a sponge.

“How far up is it?” he asked while he wiped his glasses on his shirt sleeve.

BD pulled out the crumpled map and Rogelio took a look at it. “Well, we should get there tomorrow morning if we break camp early,” their guide said. “If you'd gone north, senors, you'd have nice lodging and modern facilities even up in the cloud forest. Here you'll just have your own tent.”

Jack gazed at the everlasting roof of trees. “We've had worse.”

“Lot worse,” BD agreed as he re-arranged his bandana.

“I might charge more if we get held up for some reason,” Rogelio pointed out with a grin. He was a nice guy, with dark hair and friendly brown eyes and a sense of humor. But he knew how to make a living.

They hiked for another hour or so. LD was tired. He kept fighting exhaustion, but his feet were aching and he hoped he wouldn't have to ask Jack to turn in for the night earlier than planned. But the high humidity and the steep path wore him out. However, there wasn't enough space here to pitch the tents. Too many plants and no even ground.

“Where's the next possibility to set up camp?” Jack asked Rogelio.

“Not far from here there's a plateau, a bit off the slope. That should work.”

Daniel felt Jack's eyes on him and quickly gave him a thumbs up and a big smile. Trying to hide his exhaustion was an automatic response, something that belonged to him like the habit of biting his lip or the need to have the last word in arguments. Daniel knew there was no need to put on an act for Jack or BD. Yet, he couldn't break out of his long learned patterns. Not when it meant he'd slow down their mission.

Even though it wouldn't make much of a difference if they reached the temple a couple of hours later.

Daniel thought his pack weighed a couple of tons and his boots were concrete blocks on his feet.

Rogelio and BD had taken the lead and Daniel fell behind, Jack at his side.

“You okay, kiddo?” Jack grabbed Daniel's pack and gave him a gentle push up the slope.

“Uh-huh. Just uncomfortable. Wet.”

“Tired.”

It wasn't a question.

“Yeah,” Daniel sighed. He couldn't fool Jack. “It's okay though.” He almost slipped on the muddy ground and grabbed for some hanging tree roots to pull himself up. Again he was shoved forwards from behind by supporting hands.

“I don't think there're gonna be nightmares tonight,” Jack mused. 

“That's an upside,” Daniel said, sure he'd drop like a fallen tree as soon as the tents were up. 

***

The kid was too tired to eat dinner. Jack coaxed him into having some of his MRE, but gave up soon. It had been a long march and Daniel had every right to just go to sleep. Once Jack had him in his tent he rolled up Daniel's pant legs and began rubbing sports gel into his shins and calves. Daniel wasn't untrained, but Jack knew he'd still have sore muscles in the morning from hiking uphill for hours. Hopefully the treatment would ease the ache a bit.

Daniel fell asleep before Jack was finished.

He left the kid to rest and joined Rogelio and Jackson at the small fire they had started to shoo off the mosquitoes.

Jackson raised his eyebrow in a questioning way.

“He's asleep,” Jack replied. 

“Your little chico is tough, senor,” Rogelio said. “I guide groups of tourist to the temples in the north. The first ones to start whining are the kids. Then the young senoritas who go out there in high heels.” 

“He's always pushing his limits if he can get away with it,” Jack said, torn between admiration for Daniel's determination and worrying. He'd have to keep an eye on the Wretch to make sure he didn't push himself too hard. 

Of course that wasn't news.

Rogelio went to bed a while later.

“Do you want me to keep watch?” Jackson asked. once they were alone. 

“Yeah. I'll take over in four hours.” Jack grabbed a stick and poked at the burning timbers. The wood was damp and the fire kept flaring up, making popping sounds. It also generated a lot of smoke. The air was cool and damp, too, like a thick wet blanket covering everything. Jack squinted up at the trees. A slight fog hung between the crowns. 

Jackson swatted at the mosquitoes and rubbed at a dirt stain on his pants. “If we find the Telchak device.... what do you think we're going to do with it?”

“Take it home and give it to people who know what to do with it.” Jack took a sip from his water canteen. “If this thing works like whatever Anubis is using to create his jell-o-soldiers, it's creating life from dead matter or bodies,” he processed, feeling the hairs on his neck rise.

“Sam calls them super soldiers.”

Jack snorted. Though it had a ring to it.

Jackson said, “Maybe Daniel will have another one of his visions when we find it...”

“I don't want Daniel near that thing. He can help you translate the text in the temple and figure out where it is. But he’s not touching it. And you’re not turning it on. Understood?”

“What if he says he has to? What if that's part of the ... “

“No.”

“Jack...”

“God knows what that thing does. We'll get it, we bring it home. End of story. No tinkering.”

“I wasn't going to tinker with it. I wasn't going to turn it on either. But if Daniel thinks he has to...”

“He'll have to wait till we're home. Carter and Lee can zap-proof it before I let either one of you near it again.”

“Zap-proof?” Jackson lowered his head to hide his grin, but Jack had seen it.

“Jackson... I mean it. I already talked to the kid about it. But I need your word you won't support any fancy ideas he might have.”

There was a moment of silence, but finally the younger man nodded. “I won't let him do anything without checking back with you.”

“Good enough,” Jack said and got to his feet.

“Night Jack,” Jackson's soft voice carried after him when he crawled into the tent.


	4. Evolution IV

**IV**

“I love what they did with the place,” Jack said dryly, tugging at his damp clingy clothes. He was feeling like part of the vegetation by now. Even his boots were waterlogged. 

“It looks like something out of a horror movie,” Rogelio commented. “I have never been to this place. I've been in this area plenty of times. But I never realized there's a temple here. I guide hikers up into the forests so they can enjoy the view and climb. Not to visit ruins.” 

LD wiped his glasses at his shirt and put them back on. “Cool!”

“You almost wouldn't see it if you weren't specifically looking for it,” Jackson mumbled.

Surrounded by four waterfalls lay a stone building that resembled a Mayan temple. Only it was covered in mosses and orchids all over, the whole structure hidden beneath like it was wearing a cloak. The fog, a result of the clouds drifting through this part of the forest, made it impossible to see long distances so they only discovered the temple when they almost ran smack into it.

This whole forest was like a damn steam bath. Except for the temperature. While a steam bath was hot, this soup of cloud drip and fog was actually cool, even chilly in the early morning hours. Sunrays drifted through the dense trees, leaving the whole scenery in a diffused light. 

“This part of the forest is also called the weeping woods,” Rogelio explained when Jack verbalized his feelings about the environment, loudly. 

The Daniels were enthusiastically pointing out the beauty of the flora and fauna, ignoring the chilly dampness and their exhaustion, as usual.

Two colorful birds flew out of a nearby tree when they dumped their backpacks and tents on the mossy ground.

“Quetzals,” the kid exclaimed in awe. 

“Aren't they near extinction?” Jackson reached for the camera in his backpack, but it was too late. The birds were already gone. 

“Yes! The coincidence of us coming up here and actually seeing one... not to mention two is rare,” LD nodded.

“What's with the birds?” Jack asked.

“The Quetzal is a sacred bird. It represents the spirit of the Maya,” Rogelio pointed out. “You're right, amigo. They're hard to find these days. You guys got lucky.” 

Jack grimaced. He'd consider himself lucky with a shower and dry clothes. Bird watching wasn't high on his agenda.

Their possibilities for setting up camp were limited. Jack found a semi dry spot underneath some trees with huge lush leaves. The ground was even and one of the waterfalls was close by so they could refill their canteens easily. The falls weren't spectacular, more like small creeks rippling down the rock face There were enough natural steps and paths to reach one of the falls without too much of a hassle.

However...

“If you want to look at the water, take me or Jackson with you. I don't want you to climb up there alone, okay?” Jack told the kid while they pitched the tents. 

“It fits the legend,” LD said a little breathlessly. “All water flows towards the Fountain of Youth. All four waterfalls meet in the same natural pool somewhere a bit further down the mountain. We passed by it on our way up here.”

“You listening to what I just said?” Jack knuckled Daniel's head playfully and was rewarded with a scowl. 

“Yeah yeah. You can even refill my water canteen for me if you like. I don't want to climb up there anyway. All I want to do is go into the temple. When can we go and find the entrance?” 

“As soon as we're done here and had lunch,” Jack said and, well aware he was venturing into dangerous territory, added, “We should take it easy for today. It's been a long hike up here.”

“You won't buy it if I told you I'm not tired at all, huh?” Daniel muttered. 

“Nope.”

“Crap.”

“Hey, even BD looks beat. And I'm not getting any younger.” 

“I won't nap,” Daniel warned.

“I wouldn't dare suggest you should,” Jack said, rolling his eyes. 

Setting up camp didn't take long. Finding dry firewood was a little tricky, but all four of them had lots of outdoor survival experience, so it wasn't too hard. Still, the fire was smoky and didn't make the place more comfortable.

At least they could boil water for coffee.

Lunch was a quiet affair. They were all tired and sore.

“I wonder,” LD broke the silence at one point, “why the temple isn't further down the slope. Where the waterfalls join. If the Telchak device is where all water flows together, shouldn't it be right there?”

“Maybe this was the closest place to build a temple. With these steep mountains and dense jungle, finding a good place to build isn't easy,” Jack mused.

“Or the device isn't in the temple after all,” Jackson said, giving the looming building a thoughtful look. “I guess we'll find out once we've translated the writings.”

“I have never heard about a Mayan temple this high up. Not in this area anyway.” Rogelio's eyes followed Daniel’s. “How did you know it was here?”

“We found evidence in the journal of another archaeologist,” Jackson said absently. 

“And what is it you're after? This Telchak thing?”

Jack shot him a glare and Rogelio raised his eyebrows. “Hey, I know it's none of my business, senor. I'm just the guide.”

Jackson cleared his throat. “Why don't we climb up the steps and see if we can find the entrance?”

That, however, was easier said than done. First they had to find said steps underneath all those plants. As far as Jack could tell, the temple had the typical Mayan structure. A pyramid shaped chunk with a flat surface. There should be steps at all four sides. On top of it was a small building, the actual entrance to the temple.

LD found the steps, started climbing up and slipped back down almost immediately.

It was like running up a slide with the moss everywhere so Jack opted for taking their climbing ropes with them as support for the way down.

Very carefully, Jackson began taking the steps, one by one. Rubbing his shin, red faced with embarrassment, the Wretch followed at Jack's side.

Rogelio stayed at the campsite, observing their progress, while he helped himself to coffee. His job didn't include climbing up there.

This particular temple lacked the usual height of Mayan temples, probably because it was built in such inaccessible environment. It still took them a while to reach the top. They finally sat down on a stone bench in front of the temple entrance.

After a drink from their canteens and a power bar for the kid, Jack took lead into the darkness. A curtain of lichen and fern blocked the narrow doorway. Grimacing, he used the knife from his belt to cut through it.

The humidity inside was worse than outside. So was the rotten smell.

Their flashlights wandered over limestone walls. The moss and lichen had conquered the inside of the temple as well.

“Swell,” Jack muttered. “Have fun finding any writings in this mess.”

“It should get better the farther we are away from the entrance,” Daniel said.

The kid was right. They were going down and while the tunnel became even more narrow and the humidity didn't change, the walls were soon plant-free for the most part. 

Then the tunnel ended abruptly as they entered a chamber.

“According to Nick the writings and pictographs should be in here, somewhere,” Jackson said. 

Jack watched the Daniel's search the walls with their lamps. He let his eyes wander through the room. There wasn't a sarcophagus, nor any other sign of Goa'uld presence. Just a lot of dirt, some pillars and the low drip, drip, drip of water coming from somewhere.

“I found it!” LD's voice sounded hollow in the chamber. “That was easy. This is the wall with the writings Nick discovered when he was here.”

They joined the excited kid and Jackson began setting up the two additional lamps they'd brought on the ground. Soon the Daniels were engrossed in comparing the glyphs with what Nick had scribbled into his journal.

Jack walked around, poking at the walls with his knife, looking for hidden rooms, dangerous or otherwise. He kept an eye on his two companions, who were busy brushing dust from the wall, muttering at each other about what Nick's journal did and didn't say.

***

“That's it. There's nothing else here,” LD sighed finally. He was tired and hungry and felt slightly sick from the bad air inside the temple. 

“There has to be more,” BD muttered. 

“But where? This wall is the only one covered in glyphs. And Nick copied them all into his journal,” LD said, frustrated. 

“Nick always insisted there had to be another chamber with more writings. When he gave me the journal, he kept telling me he believed there's a hidden room somewhere. He just never found it. And he never returned to Honduras. I think he was short of money to continue this particular project. His next expedition was to Belize where he discovered the skull...”

“So we're looking for a secret chamber?” Jack joined them and gazed blankly at the glyphs. LD knew they didn't mean anything to his friend. Jack's thoughts were of more pragmatic nature and Daniel knew exactly what his next words would be.

“Pack up for today, kids. It's been a long day and if there's a hidden chamber it'll still be here in the morning.”

“Give us just another minute, Jack.”

“Aht! Don't start. You've been in here way longer than I feel comfortable with.”

“Please?” Daniel tried.

“No.”

“Five minutes?”

“Daniel, gear up. That's an order. We'll be back after breakfast... then you can... play,” Jack said, an annoyingly patient tone to his voice. Like he was trying to be reasonable with a four year old. 

Daniel looked over to his big self for support, but it seemed as though BD didn't even hear Jack. He brushed away some rubble from the wall, tapping the writings lightly with his brush as he tried to decipher them.

“The Fountain of Youth lies in the core of the circle,” BD read, his voice low. “That's where Nick's notes ended, too. What is the circle? A period of time? Like a yearly circle?”

When they had returned home from Minnesota the Daniels had gone through Nick's notes a dozen times. Nick's additional notes to the glyphs were merely guesses and stabs in the dark as he hadn't been able to decipher the Goa'uld dialect. All he could translate were the few odd Mayan words woven into the alien text.

Known Earth history believed the Fountain of Youth legend originated in Arabia or Spain. Daniel knew from studies that Alexander the Great traveled to the Land of Darkness to find the Fountain of Youth. The Spanish version of “The Fountain of Youth” was what probably led Nick to Honduras in the first place. One of the interpretations of the myth suggested that Beimeni was located in the Gulf of Honduras.

The Goa'uld glyphs said Chak had found the Fountain of Youth and later one of his priests had hidden it “where all water flows to it, at the core of the circle”

“Jackson,” Jack snapped. “We're outta here.”

“Sure. Give me just another...”

“Now.”

Blinking, BD turned from the wall. Daniel saw the two men exchange a long look and then BD shrugged and started to put his brush away and pick up his pack while Jack took the battery lamps.

Daniel grimaced. Oh great. The two of them probably had some kind of silent agreement to make sure “the kid” got enough breaks and didn't miss a meal.

Scowling, he grabbed his pack and followed his teammates.

Only when they were back outside did Daniel realize how nauseous he felt. The cool air cleared his head and settled his stomach and he gratefully sat on the stone bench, watching Jack and Jackson securing the ropes to a pillar next to the temple entrance.

Descending the slippery steps was easy with the rope to hold on and once they were settled around their small fire, eating their MRE, he didn't feel like sulking at all. He just didn't have the energy anymore.

Rogelio wanted to know what they discovered and they told him as much as they could without giving away classified information or details. Jack mostly complained about the smell and the lichen and the mud, while BD went into the interesting details of Mayan writings and how advanced their civilization had been.

Daniel moved closer to Jack and leaned his head against his friend's side, snuggling in when Jack's arm came around him.

As his eyes dropped closed, he thought about how nice it'd be if it was him who found the hidden chamber tomorrow.

***

The next morning came bright and early... well, more like wet and early... and the two Daniels geared up while Jack already waited at the bottom of the temple steps, contemplating whether or not he should put on his damp cap. Grimacing, he slapped it over his head when Daniel and Jackson joined him.

They were both wearing their bandannas and glasses.

“What's with the...” Jack waved a hand in front of Jackson's face. 

“I got dust under the left lens yesterday. It's itchy.” Jackson shrugged and pointed at his left eye. It was a little red. “I can't work if I can't see properly.”

Both dressed in identical green flight jackets and cargo pants, they looked so much alike, it was scary. Not for the first time Jack thought the two of them were the perfect father/son image. But that was only on the outside. Daniel – the little one – had explained to Jack he and Jackson were something like brothers. In a warped way.

Rogelio, who wouldn't accompany them, was still eating his breakfast. He didn't seem to be bothered by the weather or the mosquitoes. But then, he earned a fortune for just sitting here and waiting for his clients to be done with their exploring.

Jack envied the man. He knew he'd be bored to death before this day was over. But he'd rather be bored outside than in the rotten dark ruins.

Ascending the steps turned out to be even more slippery than yesterday. It had rained during the night and they were grateful for the rope.

Once inside, they systematically searched the square room for a hidden compartment, tapping walls and floor. The kid looked for buttons that might trigger doors or move walls. The chamber they were investigating was easy to survey, so Jack could keep an eye on both Daniels while they worked.

He forced himself to relax.

They had talked.

He and his little Daniel.

About the usual stuff like rules and regulations, unnecessary risks and all those things they used to discuss in their private pre-mission briefings.

Despite Daniel's issues with nightmares, things had been smooth between them on the whole. For a while now Daniel was slightly less argumentative, less moody and seemed to embrace life a little easier.

He still had his moments though and when he'd promised to keep out of trouble on this trip, Jack took it with a grain of salt. Of course, getting into trouble didn't always mean Daniel actually  _did_ something he wasn't supposed to. Trouble found him. You had to be prepared for trouble where Daniel was concerned. He was like jinxed or something. 

So when the ground opened with a low rumble and swallowed the kid, it was almost an “Oh, here we go again” moment. It sure was the cause for another tuft of Jack's hair turning gray.

The whole temple trembled and for a split second O'Neill was sure they'd all end up on a lower level, buried under tons of rocks. But even before the floor stopped moving, he and Jackson were kneeling at the square opening, holding their flashlights into the dark hole.

“Daniel!” Jack yelled as two beams of light ghosted over hewn limestone walls.

“Writings! I found writings!” LD called up, his voice hollow. “I need more light! Throw down some light sticks! I lost my lamp when I fell!”

Jackson pulled out several light sticks from his jacket, broke them and threw them into the hole.

“Are you okay?” Jack's light finally caught the kid kneeling on the ground of what appeared to be a small room, as empty as the one he and Jackson were currently in. 

“Fine!” Daniel shielded his eyes with one hand, blinded by Jack's light. “Nothing's broken.” He started crawling around and then triumphantly held up his own flashlight. “Got it!”

In the meantime the light sticks illuminated some of the room the kid was stuck in.

Jackson swung his legs over the edge, ready to follow the Wretch. “We need the stronger lamp, an extra set of batteries and my tools,” he informed Jack. “It's in my pack. Along with another rope.”

Jack gripped the younger man's shoulder. “You get your stuff. I'll check on Daniel.” Without waiting for an answer, he let himself down into the chamber.

It was narrow with no visible exit. The kid was studying one of the walls.

“Found the right chicken scratchings?”

“Looks like it,” Daniel mumbled. “We need the stronger lamp...”

“...an extra set of batteries and your tools. Got it. Your geek twin will be right with you.” Jack reached for the kid and turned him around to give him a once over. “Hey, you really okay?” 

“Ja-ack.” Daniel sighed. “I'm walking, breathing, talking,...”

“All right, all right. Just checking.” Jack let him go and investigated the chamber. 

Solid blocks of limestone, writings, a weird pictograph... nothing else.

No furniture, no throne, no sarcophagus. Which was good news.

“Where's BD?” Daniel asked, impatient, from the other side of the room. 

“He's getting his tools.”

The ceiling trembled again, sending down clouds of dust. Jack had the kid flat on the ground and covered in a flash. When the walls stopped swaying and rumbling around them, he squinted at the ceiling, blinking as more dust and rubble hit his face. Underneath him Daniel let out a strangled sound.

He sat up, pulling the kid with him. “Daniel?”

“Fine,” Daniel squeaked. “What just happened?”

“I don't know. But whatever happened, it can't be good.” Jack felt his spidery sense tingle as he reached for his radio. “Jackson, come in...” 

The silence stretched... “Jackson!”

When the reply came, it was only a series of coughs. Getting to his feet, Jack slapped his radio again. “Dammit, Daniel! Talk to me!”

This time the answer came almost immediately. “Jack! I found another chamber!”

“Where are you?!”

There was a short pause, then, “Inside the chamber. I... uh...I fell in. But I'm fine.”

Peachy.

Jack gazed up at the opening. It was just out of reach. He clicked his radio again. “I'll send Daniel up to fetch the rope. Don't...”

“There's nothing to touch in here, Jack,” came the amused reply. “And I won't go anywhere. There _is_ nowhere to go.”

“Right. Just stay put,” Jack muttered.

Daniel was already at his side so he lifted the kid up to kneel on his shoulders. “Can you climb out?”

“Ouch,” Daniel yelped.

“What?”

“Nothing... move a little to the left... Yes, now hold my legs.” Slowly, Daniel pushed himself up to his feet, balancing on Jack's shoulders. With a final push, he clambered out of the opening.

O'Neill handed him the flashlight. “Go get the rope from Jackson's pack and see if you can tie it somewhere. But watch your step.” The last thing they needed was to be stuck in three different chambers.

The kid nodded and disappeared.

He listened to the sounds of Daniel's boots as he walked around, then stopped, then started walking again. A moment later, he returned. “I found the rope. There's a pillar I can tie it to. It should reach down to your position.”

“Good job.” Jack clicked his radio. “Daniel'll get me out, then we come for you.”

There was no answer.

“Jackson? Do you copy?”

Silence.

Then... “Jack? There's a hidden door.” The sound of something heavy being moved came over the radio. “Dusty down here.“

“What?” This was SO not good. “Jackson...”

“There's a...” 

“What's going on?!” Daniel yelled from somewhere above Jack's head, apparently forgetting he carried a radio too.

“A skull!” Jackson yelled back, to both Jack and Daniel. His voice carried through the temple just fine. So he couldn't be too far from them. 

“A crystal skull?!” 

“Yes! Like the one Nick found in Belize!”

“Cool! I need to see this!”

O'Neill craned his neck, trying to look through the gaping hole in the ceiling of his cozy little chamber, and barked, “Get me outta here, Daniel!”

More footsteps and then finally the rope fell down. He secured the flashlight to his belt, grabbed the rope and prayed the pillar would hold.

When Jack had climbed out, he found LD lying on his belly, gazing into a similar opening in the ground, a few feet away. When he joined the kid and peered inside, he didn't see anything but an empty room, an alcove and a crystal skull sitting on a pedestal.

His Spidery senses started tingling again as he waved his flashlight around the chamber. “Daniel?”

“Um... Jack?”

“Where is he?”

“Oh! He's probably just... I... I don't know.”

“Wasn't he just...”

“Uh-huh...”

“And now he's gone.” 

“I didn't see what he was doing. I took care of the rope. When I came to look for him, he was,” Daniel waved at the empty room beneath them, “gone.”

“You think he looked into its eyes?” Jack sat back on his heels and they exchanged a look.

“I think he looked into its eyes,” LD confirmed, then shrugged. “It's what I'd do.”

“Of course it is.”

“He needs to look into its eyes again in order to return. That's how it worked on the Giants' planet” 

“So we just wait till he's back,” Jack decided. 

“Or we could go where he went,” Daniel suggested boldly.

“I don't think so, buddy.” Jack squinted at his watch. “Let's give him a few minutes. If he doesn't...”

“Jack, he's back!” Daniel pushed himself forwards so his head and shoulders were hanging into the hole. 

Jack grabbed the belt loops of Daniel's pants to keep him from falling. “It's about time! Jackson, where have you....” He trailed off when he saw – nothing.

Well, the chamber was still there, the pedestal was still there and so was the crystal skull.

No Jackson though.

Daniel, however, rambled on, gesturing at the empty chamber. “Where've you been? Did it transport you to the Giants? What happened?”

Jack tugged at Daniel's pants. “Hey! What'cha doing?”

“What? Jack? Why don't you get the rope?” Daniel stared back at him over his shoulder, clearly puzzled.

“What do you want the rope for? You're not going down there.”

“To pull BD up?”

“Daniel, that's not funny.” Jack was very close to being annoyed. 

“What do you mean?” The kid frowned, the puzzled expression on his face so serious that Jack wondered if this was actually more than just a bad joke.

“I hate to break it to you... but he's not there.”

“Ja-ack... He's right there!” 

“Daniel...”

There was an uneasy silence as they first looked at each other and then down again.

Finally LD said, “Oh, didn't think of that. Yeah, that could be.” Turning to Jack he explained, “BD says you probably can't see him because he's out of phase. Remember when that happened on the Giants' planet?”

“I remember that. But I think Carter said everyone who's used the skull once could see you? Like Nick could see you because he used the skull before? We all – except Teal'c – used the skull when we brought Nick to the planet.”

Daniel looked puzzled. “I know. But you can't see him. And I can.”

“All right, let's bottom line this. He already used the skull twice. Shouldn't he be in the right phase if the process isn't interrupted? And by the way... what about the radiation thing? Carter said the radiation level increased every time the skull was used...“

“Jack!” 

“What?!”

“He just said he can't touch anything. He said he tried to touch the wall and his hand passed right through! That didn't happen the last time. I could touch solid walls and even sit on tables if I wanted to. I only couldn't touch other humans or move things around.” The kid really sounded freaked and Jack felt a cold shiver running down his spine.

“Where is he now?” 

“He said he'll try something. He's gone again.”

They waited, sitting at the edge of the opening. Daniel chewed his lower lip and waved his flashlight around in the chamber beneath them, while Jack tried not to grind down his teeth. Even though it felt like a hell of a lot longer, it couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes before Daniel grabbed Jack's arm and yelled, “There! There, he's back! Can you see him now?”

Jack tried. He really tried. “Nope.”

“But... I can see him! Why can't you!”

“I don't know!”

Daniel frowned. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh - what?”

“If he can't touch anything... he can't use the rope to climb out of the chamber!” 

When Jack opened his mouth, the kid continued, “Oh and he says to tell you that he doesn't want to hear any stupid questions about why he isn't falling through the floor.”

“See, that's one thing I'm dying to know! Because they never explain this stuff in movies either,” Jack griped. 

“BD says if he finds out he'll enlighten you,” Daniel informed him after a pause.

“Tell him to stop using that skull! For all I know, every time he activates it, we're exposed to radiation.”

But Daniel raised a hand to silence him and focused on the seemingly empty chamber beneath. He nodded and checked his watch. “Okay, we'll be back at Thirteen hundred.”

“Daniel?” Jack felt slightly excluded.

“The skull transported him to another place. He said it definitely wasn't the Giants's planet though. He's going back there to figure out where and what that place is. He'll return in two hours.” 

“Oh no, he won't.” Jack hated talking to an empty room. But he did it anyway. “Jackson! You're not activating that skull.”

“What else should he do? He can't just stay that way,” the kid interrupted forcefully.

“I know that. We'll find a way to get him out of that chamber first. He can go through walls, right?”

“It's pointless anyway,” Daniel said dryly. “He's gone.”

“For crying out loud,” Jack snarled. He stood and marched over to the pillar the rope was tied to. “Gear up, Daniel.”

“What are we going to do now?” Daniel slowly crossed the chamber.

“Well, the two of you didn't leave me much choice,” Jack snapped. “We'll wait and see what Jackson finds out. Let's just hope he won't have any angry natives on his ass at... wherever that skull transported him to. Son of a...” He trailed off, shaking his head, untied the rope and shouldered Jackson's pack. 

And here he'd thought it would be difficult to keep the kid in line. Jackson was just as bad. And of course the kid had to play along with his big self, taking advantage of the fact that Jack couldn't communicate with him. Well, Doctor Jackson better had a good explanation as to why he had to look into that skull's eyes in the first place.

Jack had hoped this mission wouldn't take more than a couple of days. He'd been confident the combined brain power of two Daniels would be enough to figure out the location of the Telchak device rather soon. He wanted to be back at the SGC to be available just in case SG-1 needed S and R. He knew Hammond would let him take a team through if they were in trouble. Now, thanks to Jackson, he had this mess to deal with first. And then they still needed to find that Telchak thing.

“Jack?” 

“What?” 

“Um... If it transported him to another planet and back into the right phase, maybe he'll find a gate and go home. Then he won't have to use the skull anymore.” At least he had the grace to sound a little sheepish. 

“What? Without his GDO? How's he supposed to let them know it's him?” 

“Yeah, dumb idea,” Daniel murmured.

Jack pondered his options. They could follow Jackson by using the skull, like the kid had suggested. But they'd all be probably stuck there then. Wherever  _there_ was. If something happened to Jackson though... if he didn't return in two hours... “All right, here's the deal. We wait till the time's up. If he doesn't return, I'll go after him.”

“What do I do?”

Jack bit his lip. Tough choices. “If I have to go after Jackson, and we both end up out of phase, I need you here to be our link. And in case we can't figure out how to get back, you have to contact the SGC and tell them what's going on. In the meantime I want you to work on those writings you found. Right after you had something to eat and a bit of fresh air.”

“I can eat here. You just have to bring me something...”

“I want you to go outside for a while. The air in here isn't good.” 

Daniel whined, “We're losing precious time.” He bent down to pick up his own pack. When he straightened up again, he let out a soft moan.

Jack took his elbow to support him. “Stop arguing. I need you rested so you can focus.” After a pause he added more softly, “Hey, I'm worried about him, too.”

Which wouldn't keep him from ripping Jackson a new one once they had him back.

The sunlight seemed very bright compared to the darkness inside the temple. Daniel slumped on the stone bench at the entrance. He was pale underneath the layers of smudges on his nose and cheeks.

Jack spotted Rogelio still sitting at the campfire. When their guide saw them, he rose and strolled over to the bottom of the steps.

“Senors! Everything all right? Did you find what you were looking for?”

“Not exactly,” Jack called down. 

“We lost Daniel... the other one,” LD chimed in, absently rubbing his left knee.

“What do you mean, lost him? In there?”

“I'll explain later!” Jack replied. To Daniel he said, “You stay here and wait. I'll be right back. Give me your canteen.”

“Can you leave BD's pack here, please? He has everything in there I need to work on the glyphs,” Daniel asked, handing Jack his empty water bottle.

Jack put the pack to Daniel's feet and looked down at him, biting back an irritated reply for now. “Don't move. That's an order,” he said and started climbing down the slippery steps.

***

Daniel watched Jack on his way down, then exhaled softly. He stretched his leg carefully and bit his lip when the throbbing increased for a moment. His pants weren't ripped though. There was a tiny blood stain just underneath his kneecap.

Couldn't be that bad. He probably bruised his knee when he'd fallen into the chamber. It felt slightly swollen. But he could walk, even though it hurt a little.

He opened BD's pack and rummaged through the items. Yes, it was all there. The heavy battery flood lamp, a camera, the archaeological tools and the magnifying glass.

He thought about his grandfather and how ironic it was that Nick found a crystal skull in Belize, years after he had given up on finding the Fountain of Youth here. And all the time there had been a crystal skull in this temple, right under Nick's nose. His grandfather had given Daniel the journal with his notes when he checked himself into the hospital. As far as Daniel knew, Nick never connected the crystal skull from Belize with the Fountain of Youth myth.

But it couldn't be a coincidence they found a crystal skull here. Daniel knew that over the last century, several archaeologists claimed to have found crystal skulls in South America. Some insisted the skulls were created by the Mayas. But when those skulls were analyzed, it turned out they were created with tools the Mayas couldn't possibly have developed at their time.

The crystal skull Nick discovered had been created by the Giants.

But what about the skull BD found here? Was it also from the Giants? And had Telchak stolen this skull from them to use it for himself?

To do what?

Hide the Telchak device, probably. No, the skull on the Giants' planet prevented the Goa'uld from using it. But - the writings said a priest hid the device. Did the priest hide the device from or for Telchak? Did that priest take the device through the skull?

A noise made Daniel look up and there was Jack coming back up the steps, using the rope as a rail. His older friend joined him on the bench and handed him a full water canteen.

“Thanks.” He realized only now how thirsty he was. 

Jack placed a bag of sandwiches on the ground and pulled something else from his jacket. “Show me your leg.”

Uh-oh... “There's nothing wrong with my leg,” Daniel mumbled, squinting at the first aid kit in Jack's hands. “It's just a scratch.”

“Daniel.”

Scowling, he pointed at his left knee. “It's no big deal. It's just grazed.”

Jack gave him the eyebrow.

With a long suffering sigh, he pulled up his pant leg, hissing when the fabric scraped over his knee, and revealed a slight bruise. The skin was grazed and little droplets of blood slowly trickled down his leg. “Be gentle,” he warned, when Jack searched for the iodine wipes.

Jack took Daniel's leg and placed it in his lap. “Count to ten.”

“One, two, three, f... uuu-ouch!!! It hurts, it hurts... Jack... stop!” He squeaked, as tears sprang to his eyes. Jack gently patted his knee with the iodine wipe, but it burned like fire. 

“Almost over, kiddo. Hang in there... o-kay, all done.” Putting the wipes away, Jack took a good look at the bruise while Daniel rubbed his eyes and groaned. 

“I'll put a band aid on it and some cool gel on the swelling.”

“But I can stay and work, right?” Daniel asked, sniffling.

“Next time I ask you if you're hurt...”

Daniel gazed at his leg that was still in Jack's lap. “Didn't want to worry you.”

“Could've fooled me. I thought you were worried about having to go back to camp.”

“Nooo... Yes. Bit of both.”

Jack shook his head and examined Daniel's knee again. “Doesn't look bad. I wouldn't have sent you down because of this. I'd ground you for the rest of the day now, though, if Jackson wasn't missing. And you know why.”

Daniel sighed. Fine, he didn't tell Jack. But it was just a scratch. “Ja-ack. It's hardly worth mentioning.”

“It needs to be treated. Otherwise, in this lovely climate, it could get infected. And then you'd not only stay in camp but go to a hospital.” 

Daniel hated it when Jack was so obviously right. But there it was. He watched as Jack put a band aid on his knee and cool gel on the bruise.

“It didn't even hurt that much. And then BD was gone...”

“Oh, and Daniel,” Jack carefully pulled Daniel's pant leg back in place. “I know it doesn't say _colonel_ anywhere on my uniform...” 

“You're not even wearing a uniform. Well, you do, but not with all the signs and batches,” Daniel muttered under his breath, bending his knee a little to see how bad it still hurt. 

“... but I'd like to be the one giving the orders around here. That goes for visible and invisible members of my team. You got that?” 

“BD and I just thought it was a good idea to use the skull once more to explore...”

“Yeah, and next time you have a good idea, you'll let me know before acting on it.”

Oh great. Chewed out twice in less than five minutes. That hadn't happened in quite a while. “BD would've used the skull again, no matter if I told you about it. There was nothing you or I could've done to keep him from leaving. It was his idea.”

“Of course it was!” Jack's eyes opened wide in sarcastic surprise. “I forgot how desperately you tried to talk him out of it.” 

“Oh please! You know me... him. He was determined to go. And besides, what else was there to do?” Daniel kicked at a tuft of moss in frustration, only to hiss in pain when his knee protested the sudden movement. They were wasting good time arguing while he should be translating the glyphs. 

“Translating the text first?” Jack pointed at the temple entrance. “Seeing if it gives you a hint on how to fix this out-of-phase thing? He wasn't in any immediate danger, right?”

“No,” Daniel grated out, kicking harder at the moss, using his good leg this time. 

“I wanted him to only use the skull again if absolutely necessary. Each time he activates it, radiation flares up and there's no way to measure how high the dose is. So forgive me for being a little cross. Of course I'm just the dumb colonel. What do I know.” 

Gazing down at his boots, Daniel didn't know what to say. It seemed the best option at the time and Daniel felt it was unfair to get all the blame for this mess. After all it was BD who looked into the skull's eyes in the first place.

Jack opened the lunch bag and Daniel reluctantly took a sandwich, figuring refusing to eat wouldn't go over well at the moment.

They sat in uncomfortable silence, ate their sandwiches and drank from their water.

What did Jack think he could've done to convince BD not to use the skull again? But of course Daniel was here now, so he got the tongue lashing. It was easy, no problem. Just blame the kid...

“Look, I know it wasn't your fault he used that skull when he found it.” Jack's voice was quiet and tired. It cut right through Daniel's bitter thoughts. “And I know it was his idea to do it again when he was stuck out of phase.”

“We didn't exactly wait for you to say yes, though,” Daniel admitted grudgingly. “We knew you'd say no so he had to act fast.” 

“There's that.”

“Sorry.”

“It's water under the bridge. I want your word, though, that you won't follow him. Don't even think about it.” 

Daniel opened his mouth to argue and was stopped by a raised finger. “Aht! Don't even TRY to negotiate on this. You. Are. Not. Using. The. Skull. Period.”

“What if...”

“No.”

“...the Telchak device is hidden in another dimension? What if you really have to follow BD and help him to bring it back? You won't let him go on his own, right? You can't!”

“We talked about this,” Jack said, his jaw set in a tight line. “If I go with him, we need you right here.” 

Daniel swallowed. He knew Jack thought it was safer for him to stay with Rogelio. But there were many reasons why he didn't want to be left behind. And not all of them had to do with wanting to go and see what was on the other side of the skulls. The last time Jack had gone on a mission without him... when Jack and BD had gone to Abydos and got caught by Anubis...

He shook his head to get rid of the annoying images. Why couldn't he get over it already? Why was this haunting him so badly? Daniel remembered having the same issues after they'd returned from Tink-ah's planet where he’d been injured and Jack had to rescue him from the dwarf Svártil. But the nightmares had eventually stopped and he'd gotten on with life. Maybe the fact it was Anubis himself who'd almost killed Jack and BD on that Abydos mission was what really tormented him so much.

Anubis was the one all this was leading to. Daniel couldn't, mustn't, fail in his battle. He had to be strong. Had to figure out how to defeat him.

And he was scared.

Scared like the child he was.

Jack had said it was okay to be scared, that he was scared, too. But as an adult being scared had been different altogether and Daniel had learned the hard way his childish side wasn't always able to fight his feelings with the power of his “grown-up” mind.

Doctor Svenson was sure there were “first childhood issues” haunting him as well. Something about the fear of loss and being sent away or left behind. And she was probably right. But the bottom line was Daniel knew he couldn't fight Anubis alone.

He was dependent on SG-1 to be with him. Dependent on Jack and BD to go through this with him together. To do the things he couldn't do anymore due to being a child.

He hated to admit it, even to himself. But it was as simple as that.

“Daniel,” Jack demanded, gripping his shoulder tightly. But his voice softened when he added, “IF I have to go, nothing's gonna happen to us. You’re gonna have to trust me on this one.” 

“Wha...?” He blinked and moistened his lips. “Oh. Okay. I won't use the skull. I promise.” 

They needed the Telchak device. And if Jack wasn't willing to take him, Daniel had no right to make this even harder for all of them. He knew Jack didn't make the decision to leave him here lightly.

Satisfied, Jack clapped his shoulder and rose. “C'mon, Wretch. You better work on that text so I can have a little chat with Big-you.” He gestured at the space in front of the temple entrance. “Try walking around a bit. Is the band aid holding?”

Daniel walked a few steps and nodded.

“If it gets worse, you tell me,” Jack demanded.

“Okay.” Daniel grimaced at the sticky feel of the gel on his knee. 

As he followed Jack into the temple, he looked at his watch. Another hour until BD was supposed to come back. Daniel hoped he was all right.


	5. Evolution V

**V**

After investigating the area around the small cave the skull had transported him to, BD was relatively certain he was still on Earth. He couldn't be 100 percent positive, but the vegetation looked similar to the Honduran jungle and the air was just as humid. To his relief he hadn't run into any nasty surprises, yet. He was surrounded by the same lush tropical forest with colorful orchids and other exotic plants. Everything seemed a bit more bright here, though. The mist wasn't as dense and therefore the sunlight was much stronger. The orchid's scent was stronger, too. Not strong enough to be sickening, but intense enough to notice the difference.

Parts of the ground were covered by a creeping plant with tiny red blooms. Its finger-like tendrils wafted in the light breeze, reaching out to cling onto the trees and the ground. It had crept into the cave as well, covering the rock walls.

There were waterfalls. Four of them. Just like the ones at their campsite and the ruins. What he didn't find here was a temple or any other building for that matter. He had hiked the area for the last hour and found out he could touch things here, which was a relief.

He hadn't discovered any sign of civilization, neither present nor ancient.

Except what he’d found in the cave.

It wasn't much of a cave, actually. The entrance was a wide gap in the mountain, merging into one large chamber.

On five pedestals, similar to the one on the Giant's planet, sat five identical crystal skulls. He knew he had to use the one in the middle to return to Jack and LD. But he already tried that and had still been out of phase.

Where would the other four skulls take him?

Daniel took a closer look at them. “Which one of you takes me to wonderland?”

They stared back at him with empty eyes.

After a moment of thinking, he positioned himself in front of the skull on the far right side of the line, announcing, “You are it.”

He gazed into the eyes and waited.

Nothing happened.

No glowing leptons, no feeling of disorientation, no nothing. Not even a shift of air.

“Guess you're not it,” Daniel mumbled as he reached out to touch the cool, smooth surface. The skull remained unmoved, grinning its deadly grin as it had been carved into the crystal thousands of years ago.

He picked the next one, then tried the skull to the left of the middle skull. The last one finally gave the desired reaction.

Daniel felt the cave shift and a soft breeze ruffle his hair. And there was that odd tingling in the pit of his stomach. Straightening, he glanced around, only to find himself still in the same cave.

Except it was dark now.

He stepped out into the mild night and discovered two things immediately. The cloudless sky clearly showed the Milky Way, and the orchid's scent was even stronger now, almost breathtaking.

Tempted to try if the other skulls worked from here, he took a look at his watch and realized it was time to return. Jack was probably anxious and would follow Daniel if he didn't show. Gazing at the other four skulls wistfully, he chose the one that had brought him here and looked into its eyes.

When the disorientation stopped, he was back where he’d left. Sunlight danced on the mossy ground between the trees. The waterfalls mumbled softly in the background.

So the middle skull was his way back to the temple and the far left one took him to another dimension.

What about the other three?

He had a vague idea, but another look at his watch told him he really had to go back.

  
  


When Daniel returned to the narrow chamber, neither Jack nor the boy were in sight. He called their names as he tentatively touched one of the lime stone walls... and reached right through it. His fingers started prickling and he hastily pulled them back.

“That's not getting old,” he mumbled, when a ripple of dust from above drifted right through him.

“BD!” 

“I’m still out of phase,” he replied, looking up into the small, anxious face peering over the edge.

Jack's head appeared next to the kid's. “I take it, he's still invisible.”

“He's right there,” LD said patiently.

“Still not falling through the floor?” Jack cocked his head and stared right through Daniel.

This was disconcerting.

He cleared his throat. “The skull transported me to a cave. It seems to be located in a jungle similar to where we are now. But there's no way of knowing where exactly it is. All I'm sure off is that it's on Earth. Like the temple, the cave is surrounded by four waterfalls...”

“Wait...” LD turned to Jack and repeated what he had heard.

“Any hostiles?” Jack asked tersely.

“No,” Daniel replied and LD shook his head. “There was no one around. But in the cave were five skulls, identical to this one.”

“Five!” LD exclaimed. 

“Five – what?” Jack snapped. 

“Did you try them?” LD asked, ignoring Jack for the moment. “Did they take you somewhere else?”

“Yes...” Daniel told his shortened version of what had happened. 

“You probably have to use the other skulls in a certain order,” the boy assumed, barely able to suppress his excitement.

“I was just going to try that, but I thought I'd better be back on time so Jack wouldn't start a fuss and run after me. I figured one of us being out of phase is enough.” 

Jack narrowed his eyes as he listened to LD's explanations. “How nice of you to return, instead of going to Oz right away,” he said sarcastically, glowering at a point in the back of Daniel's chamber.

“He's over here, right in front of the opening,” LD said helpfully.

Jack rolled his eyes and nudged LD's shoulder. “Tell him what you were working on while he was gone.”

“Oh... I translated more of the text in the other chamber. It repeats the Fountain of Youth will be found at the core of the circle and all water flows towards it. Very cryptic. There's a pictograph you should see, BD.”

“What does it look like?” 

“It's a spiral with several small circles drawn on. I think it's a map.”

Daniel pursed his lips as he turned in a circle to estimate where the other chamber might be. “I'll go through the wall. I want to look at this pictograph.” He grimaced. “I remember walking through a closed door the last time this happened. And of course, Teal'c walked through me.”

He felt a little nauseous at that particular memory, though.

LD made an ewww-face, apparently recalling something similar. “I waved through Hammond's face. That was...”

“Gross,” Jack muttered and rose to his feet. “All right, kids. Let's do this. We'll meet you over there, Jackson.”

Daniel drew a deep breath, took the plunge, stepped forward and closed his eyes as his out of phase body merged with the wall.

It felt weird. For a moment he  _knew_ the walls would squash him. He could  _feel_ the pressure of the rocks as he passed through. Like a slow weight pressing onto him from all sides, making it impossible to breathe. But the impression only lasted for a moment, then he was through. 

Daniel knew he was in the right place when he spotted his and LD's pack and the battery flood lamp on the ground.

There was rustling and scrabbling as LD and Jack entered the chamber through the opening in the ceiling. For a frightening moment Daniel worried Jack might walk through him. He hastily retreated to a corner where he wouldn't be in their way.

As if the kid was reading Daniel's thoughts, he warned Jack not to step through Daniel and Jack asked how the heck he should avoid that, given the fact he wasn't able to see him. LD just took the colonel's hand and led him over to the pictograph. “Stand right here,” he ordered.

Amused, despite his worries, Daniel joined them and studied the illuminated section of the wall.

“Looks like a star spiral,” Jack's voice came from his left. “You know, like a map of the Milky Way. But our galaxy has four spirals. This has only one single arm going out from the core. And it leads back to it, too.”

“Could it be a galaxy?” LD asked. “I thought it was a tunnel inside this temple but maybe it's a star map.”

“There are one armed galaxies out there. Though I'm not Carter. I might be wrong.” Jack shrugged. 

He was standing close to BD now. So close that Daniel could smell sweat and dirt, mingled with the fading scent of shampoo and soap. He could see how slick Jack's skin was from the dampness, saw the short strands of gray hair at the base of Jack's neck and the chain of his dog tags lurking inside the collar of his jacket.

Distracted by the flood of old memories and emotions washing over him, Daniel took a deep breath, inhaling what wasn't the scent of roses, but familiar and in a way... arousing... masculine and rich...

All Jack.

He glanced over to the boy, who was totally engrossed in looking at the pictograph.

Daniel took a step away from Jack, realizing with a pang of wistfulness that even if he actually  _could_ touch him, he really couldn't. Not here. Not ever. Not the way he wanted to. 

He gazed at the spiral lines. “Ten small circles,” he mumbled. “And do you see these additional lines crossing through the spiral?”

There were four straight lines meeting at the core of the pictograph. “If this was a compass,” LD mumbled, “each of these four lines comes from a different direction. North, East, South and West.”

“Maybe it's a compass,” Jack suggested. 

“At the core of the circle, you will find what you seek. The Fountain of Youth. All haa... that's Mayan for water... flows to it. Travel through the...” Daniel paused in reading the text section above the pictograph, his fingers ghosting over the glyphs.

“Itsh,” LD said. 

“Itch?” Jack asked, puzzled. 

“No... Itsh... it means face.” 

“Or eye,” Daniel said slowly. “That's another Mayan word. Not Goa'uld.”

“All the haa... flows to it if you travel through the... kimen itsh.” LD tapped the wall with his fingers. “I found more Mayan words. Kimen... means dead.” 

“Dead face.” Daniel frowned.

“Or dead eyes.”

Daniel saw Jack grimacing as he nudged LD to get his attention. “Look, as much as I love to watch you talking to invisible boy here... is this going somewhere? Anytime soon would be great.”

Daniel lowered his head to hide his grin, forgetting Jack couldn't see him.

Sulking colonel was kind of cute.

LD said, “The skulls have dead eyes. My interpretation is that if you travel through them, i.e. look into their eyes, you'll eventually arrive at a place where all water flows together. And there's the Telchak device.”

“If 'what you seek' really is the Telchak device,” Jack said.

“What else could it be?”

“Who knows? Eternal wisdom? Absolute Power? A membership for the snake country club?”

“Ja-ack.” LD playfully swatted Jack's arm and received a hair ruffle in return. 

Smiling at the antics of the other two, Daniel focused on the glyphs again. There was a lot of text to decipher.

An hour later, the Daniels had translated some more of the writings .

They wondered about the Mayan words thrown into the text. They guessed that whoever had put this glyphs into the wall were Mayan, probably slaves or the same priest who hid the device.

However, the hardest part of their work was one bored, restless Colonel O'Neill.

Jack played with the cover of his watch cover; snapped it open, closed it again, then opened it... and if he wasn't playing with his watch, he was pacing the chamber or asking helpful questions like, “Are you done yet?“ “How much longer?” “Daniel, did you bring your Nintendo?”... Couldn't he walk perimeters outside for a change? Get some coffee? Take a leak? Anything...

BD had felt neither thirsty nor hungry since being out of phase, but he could almost feel a headache coming.

He frowned at the pictograph. “I think it's a route... a course from one skull to the next. Not a star map. And the circles are not stars, they're...”

“...skulls. Each circle stands for one of the skulls. But then there must be more than five. Ten circles, ten skulls?” LD shook his head in frustration. “This whole text is rather sketchy.” 

“There may be more skulls on other levels. So far I only used two of them. There's only one skull on each level that works. And one that takes you back to where you came from,” Daniel assumed.

“And in the end you'll arrive here.” LD pointed at the core of the spiral, then nodded. “Of course! That makes sense. Five on this side of the core, five on the other side. Five will bring you there and the other five lead you back. The spiral arm is like a circle. Going to the core and leading away from it.” 

“Yeah. But there's another section of glyphs here. This will take a while. Tell Jack I need more time to read this,” Daniel murmured.

LD turned to Jack, who was still alternately pacing the room or hovering next to the kid, distracting them with his complaints about being bored. “He says we need more time to read this.”

“I do. You two go and take a break. I can stay here and translate.” Daniel wanted Jack to back off and find something to occupy him. Something that didn't involve hanging around and annoying him with his whining. But Jack probably wouldn't leave the kid alone down here, so Daniel hoped he could send them both away for a while and be undisturbed.

Little Daniel had other plans though. “He needs my help to translate, but you can go and take a break, Jack.”

Jack didn't sound happy when he replied, “How  _much_ longer?”

“I don't know. This is... huge. And some of the glyphs I've never seen before.” Daniel licked his lips and gestured at the wall. 

“Oh... not too long, I guess,” LD assured Jack, all blue eyes and innocence.

“I want you to take a break and get some fresh air.”

“I took a break.”

“Two hours ago. You're taking one again, now. I want to go down to camp anyway, to check on Rogelio, tell him we'll be stuck here for a while longer.”

“Ja-ack, you're bored. So go ahead and take a break. Nothing's gonna happen to us. We'll stay right here.”

“I'm not leaving you alone down here.”

“I'm not alone. BD is here with me.”

“He's invisible,” Jack grouched.

Daniel sighed and gave LD a desperate look. “Nice try. He won't leave you down here. Why don't you just humor him and take that break? He's driving me nuts!”

“He's driving me nuts as well!”

“And you're both whining,” Daniel pointed out.

“I'm a kid. I'm allowed to whine! He's been whining for the last hour or so!”

“Hey! I'm a colonel. I don't whine!” 

“Ja-ack! When BD was gone, you said I'd have to stay behind, in case you had to follow him through the skull. Where's the difference between leaving me here to work for a while from leaving me with Rogelio at the camp?” 

Daniel frowned. Jack wanted to leave LD alone out here?

Long looks were exchanged in a silent conversation. Finally LD opted for another tactic. “Please? Let me work? Just for a little while longer? I'll take a break soon, I promise.”

Jack reached for the rope. “You better still be here when I get back, kiddo. No skull hopping, understood?”

LD nodded dutifully and forced out a, “Yeah, I got it loud and clear.”

“You have twenty, before I'll haul you out for a break. This is as far as negotiations goes.” With that Jack was gone. 

Once he was out of sight, LD muttered, “It's about time.”

“You can say that again,” Daniel huffed. He was about to continue with the next line of glyphs, but was distracted by something LD had said before Jack left. “Jack wasn't seriously considering leaving you alone here to come after me when I was gone?”

“If you hadn't returned on time, he would've gone after you. I'm the only one who can talk to you. So I'd have to stay here in case you both ended up out of phase. Someone had to call for backup then and explain everything.” LD sounded subdued when he said it. But suddenly he straightened up and stuck out his chin stubbornly. “I'm fine with that. I'm glad he finally acknowledges I'm still good for something and don't have to be guarded all the time. Must be a huge issue for him.” 

Daniel realized it made sense. He also realized he was responsible for Jack's current dilemma. But he hadn't expected to be stuck out of phase when he first decided to activate the skull.

They worked on for a little while, just mumbling and pointing out words to each other. LD scribbled the translations into his journal and consulted the Mayan dictionary. Finally he looked up and said, “I wish I could use that skull, too. I'd love to see where it takes you. And where the others will take you.”

“You're sure it'll lead us to the Telchak device?”

“I'm pretty sure. I think the priest hid it there. I wonder if he did it because he was ordered to do so by Telchak. Which would mean Telchak knew about the skulls.”

“Yeah, makes sense...” Daniel trailed off, suddenly wondering what the hell he'd do if his kid-version decided to use the skull after all. Jack was gone. Daniel had no way of hindering the kid if he really insisted on activating the skull. “You're not going to use the skull without permission from Jack, are you?” 

“No. I want to. But no. We should translate all of this first before using the skull again.”

That sounded quite reasonable.

  
  


***

Jack joined Rogelio by the fire, informing him they were working on getting Doctor Jackson back. Their guide appeared concerned and offered his help in any way, but didn't ask too many questions, which suited Jack just fine.

He told Rogelio they might need him to stay with the kid and wait for back up, should Jack fail to retrieve Doctor Jackson or get lost, too.

_And tie him to a very sturdy tree...._ he thought, gritting his teeth. He didn't want to leave the kid out here on his own. Having Rogelio as his watch dog meant squat. If Daniel decided to follow them, there was nothing their guide could do about it. He was no match for the sneaky little Wretch. Hell, Jack didn't trust anyone but his own team with Daniel. How could he leave him with a guy he barely knew? How could he even THINK about leaving him here... 

Svenson kept telling them to stop clinging to each other so much. She'd encouraged him to leave Daniel with others more often. But O'Neill was sure her idea of “letting go” didn't include letting the kid stay alone in the Honduran jungle with just a guide.

It sure wasn't Jack's.

But if BD and the kid kept insisting their goal was somewhere only the skulls would lead them, he had to give the mission first priority. And his first priority was threat assessment and making a decision based on what they knew. 

Which wasn't much, yet.

He turned to Rogelio, grim faced. “Listen... just in case I have to leave, Daniel knows what do to and whom to call. Just make sure he stays here and doesn't get into trouble.”

“And you're going to kill me in cold blood if something happens to the little amigo,” the guide said lightly.

_Well, smart guy_ . “You're right,” Jack replied equally as lightly, patting Rogelio's shoulder. “You ever heard of 'classified'?” 

“You're military,” Rogelio said good naturally. “I knew it.”

Jack grabbed two lunch packages and the water canteens he had filled on his way back to camp.

“So what's going on and why do you have the kid with you?” Rogelio asked.

“Need to know,” Jack replied tersely. “If you need to know, I'll let you know. Right now you don't need to know.”

The guide held up his hands in a calming gesture. “Hey, as I said. I'm just the guide. I'm easy. I was just curious. I'll watch the little amigo for you, no problemo. I like him. He's smart.”

_Way too smart for his britches_ , Jack thought. He went for a less hostile tone when he addressed Rogelio again. “This will probably take a while. I know we were due to return tomorrow. If you have other jobs you're missing out on because of us...”

“I'll charge you more,” Rogelio grinned. He was reading a book about the 12 steps to success in life and business. Now he waved the book in Jack's direction. “I won't get bored. This is interesting. And I called my cousin to take over my clients until I've returned.” 

Jack wandered around the temple, looking for any potential danger. The most threatening thing he came across was a squirrel-like mammal with a long thin tail which looked like it belonged to a rat. The little guy blinked at Jack with beady black eyes and then scurried up a tree, vanishing in the high crown.

Deciding he had shown enough trust and confidence the Wretch wouldn't stumble into trouble, Jack went back into the temple.

As he approached the hole in the ground, he heard boy genius muttering to his invisible pal.

He peeked inside, watching Daniel for a moment. He knew how much his little archaeologist missed working in the field. LD was right at home here, sitting cross-legged in the dirt. The lamp illuminated his silhouette, a very focused little guy, scribbling in his journal. Once Daniel zeroed in on something it was hard to distract him, no matter at what age. Jack imagined Big Daniel standing somewhere near the kid, gazing at the wall and probably dictating what he translated, so LD could write it down. They made a good team.

He reached for the rope and swung himself down to their level, startling the kid, who dropped his pen. “Jack! Don't sneak up on us like that!”

“Stay alert all the time,” Jack said smugly. “Doesn't T teach you stuff like that?” 

“Har har, very funny.” The kid pouted and shook his head. “What do you want?”

“Break time. Fresh air and something to drink awaits you outside this rotten temple of doom,” Jack cajoled, holding out the rope to one annoyed mini-archaeologist. “Tell Mister Invisible that goes for him, too. I'm sure no wall is too thick for his hard skull to go through.”

LD gazed at a point next to Jack, a thoughtful look on his face, and finally nodded. “BD thinks we won't find any more hints about the Telchak device or the skulls in this text, and I agree. Its contents moved from the device on to how Telchak built the machine that allowed him to live forever.”

“The sarcophagus,” Jack guessed. “Is there an instruction manual how to build it?”

“No. Just a general mentioning of it. But listen to this... According to the writings, Telchak created many evil demons with the Fountain of Youth, but finally was able to master and control its magic to build the sarc. His priest banned the Fountain of Youth and the demons from this part of the world.”

“Wait a minute... evil demons? You mean he created something like the jello-guys?” Jack wondered if some of them were waiting wherever the skulls lead to. 

“It doesn't go into any more detail,” LD said. “But since the device gives life to dead material, Telchak probably experimented with it and created some sort of... uh... zombie. Jacob said the Ancients built the device with the purpose of healing. But it didn't work on humans.”

“So Telchak made modifications.” 

“And in order to do that he must have used it on his slaves. To figure out how to manipulate its effects and build the sarcophagus,” LD finished.

“So bottom line is,” Jack waved at the wall, “Telchak had brains enough to build the sarcophagus and then sent the Fountain of Youth doohickey through the skulls along with some zombies...”

“Not Telchak. His priest.” 

“Whatever.... the point is that those zombies might still be around to guard that thing?”

“Um... it's just a guess. But it happened thousands of years ago, so they might be... gone.”

“Oy.” Jack rubbed a hand over his damp neck. “Have you ever seen The Living Death? Zombies don't just die. Or go away.”

He didn't like where this was going.

“We need to use the skulls to find the device,” LD said after a pause. 

“ _We_?” Hadn't they already established who was using the skull and who wasn't?

But Daniel was in full lecture mode, waving his hands and licking his lips as he almost bounced with eagerness to convince Jack it was absolutely necessary they should all go. “Think about it, Jack! That priest used the skulls to hide the Fountain of Youth. He must've been able to return. So the answer on how to bring BD back into the right phase lies somewhere on the other side. I think if we use the skulls in the right order, we'll end up back here. All in the right phase.”

“No. _You_ think about  it, _Daniel._.. if he banned that device and the zombies, or whatever, would he want them to be able to use the skulls and come back?” 

The kid's brow furrowed. “The jell-o-soldiers aren't exactly intelligent. I don't think whatever Telchak created is able to figure out how to use the skulls correctly.”

Why did he even argue with his pint sized archaeologist?

“You're just stabbing in the dark here, kiddo. What if there IS no way back? What if we all get stuck out of phase? And Carter's not here to un-phase us.”

Daniel blinked. “I'm not wrong. It has to be that way. BD agrees if that makes any difference. He's right here, agreeing. Very strongly.”

***

Daniel agreed very strongly, indeed. With the kid's theory. They had come to this conclusion together, actually.

However, he hadn't exactly encouraged LD to talk Jack into making this a team mission. He was prepared to go alone. He was armed and capable of defending himself, should there be any reason to do so. If he stumbled across the living death in one of the other phases or places he'd cross, he would deal with that.

Jack shouldn't go with him. And neither should the boy.

Jack had given up his team to be here for LD. What point was there in taking such a huge step if he still put himself in danger now? LD had helped to solve the riddle, had figured out where to find the device. His work was done here. And Jack needed to be where LD was.

“Daniel,” he said, reaching out for the boy, not able to touch him. “Don't.“

LD, who was playing the age old game of “puppy dog eyes” with Jack, spun around to face him. “What?”

“I'll go alone.”

“No, you're not!”

“You and Jack shouldn't split. I'll be fine. I have a gun, a light and everything I need. I even have a power bar, should I need to bribe some beasts. I'll bring the Fountain of Youth device with me. All you have to do is wait, entertain Rogelio, drink bad coffee and annoy each other. And before you know it, I'll be back.”

“Are you crazy? In case you didn't get it,” LD huffed, “it says Telchak's priest banned demons along with the device!”

“Which is why I want you both to stay here.” 

Daniel knew Jack had to decide between joining him and taking LD with him or joining him and leaving LD behind. On the off chance there was no way to transport them back into the right phase, LD would either lose Jack or be stuck with them. If something else happened to them on the search for the Telchak device, LD would either lose Jack or probably be in the middle of whatever might happen.

None of that was acceptable.

LD was needed to fight Anubis. And Jack was needed to stand at his side. They didn't need BD. He was dispensable.

Whether or not they'd find the Fountain of Youth, they couldn't risk LD getting lost in some other dimension. And Jack had to choose right. He chose right when he left SG-1. Daniel was sure he'd choose right again now.

Jack wasn't like Nick. He wouldn't leave LD behind. Not after what happened on Anubis's ship. Not now that the kid had all these nightmares and issues.

“Don't worry about me. I'll see you later,” he said and gave LD a little wave before he let the wall swallow him. 


	6. Evolution VI

**VI**

“He's gone!” LD couldn't believe it.

“What?!” Jack reached for the rope. “Get your pack!”

“He said he wanted us to stay here. Something about not wanting to get us into trouble.” Daniel hastily threw things into his backpack. 

“Give me that.” Jack grabbed the pack when Daniel was done. He put it on and climbed up the rope. Daniel followed suit, biting his lip when his knee acted up. Jack knelt at the opening and helped him out. 

Daniel knew he had lost the argument when Jack ushered him through the tunnel and out of the temple instead of taking him to the skull. Once outside, Jack crouched in front of him and they locked eyes. “You have to stay here, Daniel.”

“I'm right. I know I am. We can return...”

To Daniel's surprise, Jack nodded. “You probably are. But if there's a chance we run into some creepy creatures, there's no way I'm risking your life.”

“I can't just sit here and wait.” He felt the panic flare up, paired with the old frustration about being excluded and helpless. He tried to stomp it down, but didn't quite manage to. In a feeble attempt not to show his anger, he turned away from Jack. But large hands closed around his shoulders, holding him firmly in place, anchoring him. Jack's voice was quiet and reassuring. “Listen. I know how tough this is for you. Hey, you know how _I_ feel about leaving you.”

“Mother hen.” Daniel couldn't smother a lopsided smile.

“Yeah. We just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'll trust you to stay here and wait. You're gonna trust me to bring Jackson and the Telchak thingy back. We've been through worse... You're a big guy, Daniel. You'd be what... thirty six?“

“Reverse psychology,” Daniel snorted despite the ice cold lump in the pit of his stomach. “And I'd be thirty five. For about another month.”

“Oh yeah. There's gonna be a huge cake. With candles.”

“Promise?”

“You bet,” Jack smirked. “As many candles as you want.”

“Nine would be okay.” Daniel swallowed.

“Right.” Jack's voice became colonel-like again. “If we're not back in 24 hours, call Hammond. Report what happened and as soon as Carter and Teal'c are back, I want them here.”

“Jack... what if they...”

“They won't. They'll be all right.” Jack sounded so certain, so calm, it made Daniel feel better despite the knowledge that Jack couldn't possibly know how SG-1's mission was going. 

“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay, I'll... I'll wait here. I won't follow you.” 

And what would he accomplish by joining Jack anyway?

He didn't even have a zat to defend himself. And he was sure hand to hand combat or anything else Teal'c had taught him, wouldn't help with zombies. Or whatever it was that lurked somewhere behind the skulls.

He closed his eyes in defeat.

“Unless,” Jack began out of the blue, and Daniel's eyes snapped open in surprise. “Unless Aiyana or Oma show up to guide you for some reason. That's the only exception. I trust you to make the right choices.”

Daniel felt his head bop up and down, biting back all the “buts” and “ifs” he wanted to point out. There was no time for that now.

He was pulled into a tight hug, Jack's hand cupping the back of his head, messing up his hair. 

“Be careful,” Daniel muttered into Jack's ear, arms around Jack's neck, hugging him back equally as tight. “Both of you.”

Finally Jack gently pushed him away. “C'mon, grasshopper. Let's clue Rogelio in.”

“You're gonna tell him everything?” Daniel followed Jack down the steps.

“Nope, just the basic stuff. And I'm going to make sure he'll feed you properly. Which will probably cost me even more.”

“I'll eat,” Daniel promised grudgingly. 

“And sleep,” Jack ordered. 

Daniel doubted he could sleep while Jack and BD were gone but wisely kept that to himself and just acknowledged that he understood what Jack had said.

***

Jack scanned the poor excuse for a cave he materialized in, only to find it empty. Wishing he could wrap his hands around the familiar handle of his P90 or around Jackson's neck - which would actually be more satisfying right now – he stepped out into the sunlight.

Yep, looked almost like home.

Trees and waterfalls, flowers everywhere. Almost sickeningly idyllic.

He clicked his radio. “Jackson!”

No reply. Whether it was because they were still in different phases or BD had left already, Jack couldn't tell. But he had a pretty good idea which the case was.

Recalling what the Daniels had told him, Jack returned to the skulls and tried one after another, leaving out the middle one because it was the one he’d come through.

Grimacing at the slight sick feeling the transportation generated, he took one look around and knew he was basically in the same place.

“Two down, three to go,” he grumbled, not bothering to explore his surroundings any further. Jackson knew where to go and Jack had no doubt he was at least two skulls ahead of him. 

The second skull on the right transported him out of the cave and into...

...the same frigging cave.

From a look outside he assumed it was late afternoon here as the shadows were long and the sunlight golden.

“Oh, for crying out loud.” He tried his radio again, receiving nothing other than dead silence. 

For a minute he just stood, listening. But aside from the mumbling water and wind ruffling the trees there weren't any sounds.

Not even birds. But the orchids smelled like someone had broken a perfume bottle.

He returned to the skulls. This time it was the first one on the right that whisked him away....

...into the same old, same old cave.

Except it was dark. But Jack heard the mumbling of the waterfalls and a he was greeted by a starry sky and a full looming moon when he stepped outside. The sweet smell of flowers seemed to be worse than before.

He froze on the spot, not moving a muscle, listening to the sounds of the water and the wind.

With the gut instinct of one who had years of experience under his belt and had been in many tight spots, Jack knew there was something here.

Someone.

Watching him.

The moonlit night made it easier to observe the territory, but there were still too many dark areas he couldn't see through. Registering slight movements to the far right, O'Neill took a step back, melting into the shadows of the cave entrance.

That's when he heard a low crack behind him.

He spun around just in time to see a shadow fly towards him. Jack blocked the first punch, but the second hit his jaw and he stumbled, lost his footing and landed hard on his back. When the other one made a leap at him, Jack let him come, grabbed his arms and pulled him down.

They rolled over the soggy moss, O'Neill ending up on the bottom, held down by the full body weight of the other man. He blindly groped for his attacker's skull, grabbing some clothing... Whatever was covering the guy's head, Jack pulled it off before tightening his fingers into short hair, yanking hard. There was a painful yell and the pressure on Jack's chest loosened.

They both rolled over. Once on top, Jack rammed an arm against the other guy's throat, holding him immobile.

That's when he caught the moonlight reflecting in...

Glasses?

Glasses that were partly knocked off to one side and now slid to the ground somewhere beside them.

Jack's thought process hadn't quite caught up with what he saw when a strangled voice croaked, “J'ck?”

For a moment they were frozen in place like a statue, caught in an obscure love act. Jack plastered to Jackson, arm still pressing against his throat, Jackson's hands resting awkwardly on his back.

“Killing me here,” Jackson informed him.

Resisting the urge to slap Jackson across the face, O'Neill jerked his arm away and sat up

Big Daniel swallowed tentatively and groaned.

“Didn't know it was you,” they both muttered, and then, “You okay?”

“Fine,” Jackson coughed, rubbing his throat. “Still breathing. You?”

“I'm good,” Jack growled, carefully touching his jaw. “What the hell were you thinking?!”

“That you're a threat and wanted to kill me?”

“You're right about the wanting to kill you part,” Jack snarled. 

“Yeah, I can see that.” A small grin formed on Jackson's lips, lit by the moonlight. How Jack hadn't realized it was him earlier, was beyond him. “You're heavy.”

“What?” 

“Heavy. You.” Jackson gestured at him and Jack realized he was still sitting on top of the man, basically groin on groin.

Crap.

He made a fast retreat, then extended a hand to help Jackson up.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Grimacing, BD moved his neck to get out the kinks.

”Oh, enjoying the view? What do you THINK I'm doing here?!” 

Instead of answering, BD said, “We're not safe here.”

“What's going on?” Jack followed his errant teammate into the cave.

“I'm not sure. But there was some movement in the shadows of the trees. When I saw you on the clearing, I thought you might be one of Telchak's...”

“Zombies?”

“Well, I wouldn't call them zombies, but...” Jackson gave a one shoulder shrug. “Something like that.”

“Have you seen one?” Jack immediately went back to the cave entrance, peering into the dark.

“Not really. I thought I saw a fire down by the waterfalls. It's gone now, though.” 

Jackson's voice was still a bit raspy and Jack turned to look at him. “You sure you're okay?”

“Yes. At least it proves we're in the same phase now,” he replied sarcastically. 

Still fingering his bruised jaw, Jack gave a low snort. “Peachy.”

They had to sort out why Jackson thought doing the heroic act and going through the skull's eyes alone had been a good idea. But not now, Jack decided. They had more urgent things to deal with. The sooner they could make it back to the temple, the better. “All right. Tell me what you've got.”

“I have a theory.” Jackson sat on the ground and leaned against the wall. “Remember the four straight lines crossing through the spiral arm on the pictograph? I think those resemble the waterfalls. There are four falls in this area. In all phases we went through, the waterfalls remain the same.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Meaning?”

“The core of the pictograph must be the bottom of the waterfalls. Where they meet. Like a pond or a river.”

***

“The legend of the Fountain of Youth says you'll find it where all water flows together,” LD explained to a bewildered Rogelio. “That means the artifact my dad and uncle are looking for, lies on the bottom of a lake or pond. Where those waterfalls meet.” 

“Okay. But where are your dad and your uncle now? And what exactly is it they're looking for?” 

“I can't tell you where they are or what exactly we're looking for,” Daniel sighed. “I already told you. It's classified. I'm sorry.”

“Tell me anyway,” Rogelio prompted, a mischievous glint in his eyes. 

“I can't!” 

“But you can't stop talking about it either, amigo.” 

“I'm just processing my thoughts,” LD defended himself. “It's what I do. You promised not to ask questions I can't answer.”

“You promised to eat. Your old man won't be happy if you starve while he's gone.” Rogelio held out a sandwich bag to Daniel. “I'll stop asking if you eat.”

Daniel snatched the bag from the guide's hand. Ripping open the plastic wrapper, he began to chew on the white bread. Next a canteen was pushed into his lap. “Drink, too, amigo.”

“May I swallow before I drink?” Annoyed, Daniel took a swig from the canteen and put it aside. 

“I have never heard about The Fountain of Youth being here,” Rogelio said after a while. “It is supposed to be in a mythical land.”

“Beimeni,” Daniel nodded.

“Yes. Some say it lies in the Gulf, some say it's near the Bahamas. But I never heard about a temple connected to it, or an artifact.” Rogelio shook his head and started eating his own sandwich. “It's a well, a spring. A circle of water, maybe. Not an artifact. No no, amigo. You got the wrong number there.”

Daniel knew he couldn't tell Rogelio the truth, so he didn't reply to that.

Dutifully he finished his sandwich and drank more water. It tasted like nothing, but Daniel wasn't stupid. He had to eat. Better do it now and get it over with.

“You guys are really into some deep stuff here, aren't you?” Rogelio glanced at him. “If I get shot or eaten by aliens, I'll charge your dad twice what he already owes me.”

“Who said anything about aliens?” Daniel grinned, wondering if Rogelio knew how close to the truth he was.

They finished dinner and sat around the fire pit for a while, Rogelio reading his book and Daniel scribbling in his journal.

After spending ten days with BD and their vacation weekend in Minnesota, Daniel had - reluctantly at first – started a personal journal again. Doctor Svenson's idea. To sort out his emotions, write down his fears, his hopes and, according to her even more importantly, his good experiences as a “child”.

When he had began writing again he'd often been lost for words, wondering if his scribbles weren't too childish, too dramatic, too... pathetic. It had been the reason he had stopped writing his journal in the first place some time after his downsizing.

He had felt like all he did was write about his self-pity and frustration and it never helped to get rid of it. But what had begun as taking short notes about his days, soon turned back into the old routine of letting his mind wander and using his pen and journal like a Pensieve.

Daniel had recently started reading Harry Potter. One more quirk his mind had developed he didn't want to think about. He just enjoyed them. The Pensieve happened to be a memory storage device. A witch or wizard could extract their own memories or another person’s, store them in the Pensieve, and review them later. It also relieved the mind when it became cluttered with information.

Daniel's mind was cluttered a lot.

He gazed down at what he had written about being in the jungle and his worries since Jack and BD were gone through the skull. Jack was right, he decided. He worried too much. Sometimes it was as if he was stumbling over his own mind, which seemed to be too big for his head ever since he'd gotten shrunk.

He thought about Nick, trying to decide if he wanted to write about him.

But all he did was doodle on the paper, drawing a stick figure and a flower, then some squiggles.

Why, Daniel wondered, didn't the thought of Nick's death trigger a reaction. Was he grieving? He wasn't sure. His recent memories of Nick weren't the painful ones of the child that lost his parents and was pushed away by his grandfather...

_...Nick visited Daniel after spending a year with the Giants. He stayed for two days and for the most part of his visit, Nick was occupied with briefings, reporting on his studies of the Giants.  _

_In the evening Daniel took him out for dinner. The SGC provided supplies and food at the Giants' planet, but Nick admitted there were things he missed. Like Chinese._

_ They spent the evening eating Peking duck, discussing the Mayan culture and its parallels to the Giants. It had been a good meal and a good conversation. More like between a student and his old mentor than between a grandfather and grandson. At one point, it was already very late, Nick gazed into his wine glass and said, “You are like a combined result of your parents. You look so much like both of them. And you inherited the Ballard stubbornness.” _

“ _Thank you,” Daniel replied, feeling awkward about the sudden change of subject. They had never – in all those years Daniel had visited his grandfather at the hospital – talked about his parents. It had always been off limits. Until SG-1 found the crystal skull and Nick had come back into Daniel's life once again._

“ _I miss her,” Nick said absently. “I wasn't there enough when Clair grew up and I never was there when you needed me the most. But I loved her. And I miss her.”_

_Daniel waited for the old bitterness which had accompanied his thoughts about Nick for so many years - even when he had visited Nick in that hospital as an adult, the bitterness was there, tucked away in an attempt to keep their fragile relationship at peace. - he waited for the feel of betrayal and rejection that used to rise in him like bile... only to realize it was gone. Merely an echo of those old gloomy thoughts was triggered deep inside him._

_Before him sat an old man with many regrets, who had paid dearly for them by losing his only daughter and living a lonely life, driven and possessed only by his work._

_He didn't feel the need to poke in old wounds. In a way, his grandfather had come back to him and Daniel knew it wouldn't help either of them to re-heat that old guilt and hurt._

“ _She was very happy,” he said finally, no accusation in his voice. “I think you should know that.” At least in his memories she seemed to be. Both his parents had been happy. Daniel's memories of them were like a sun ray on a cloudy day. They used to laugh a lot and their love had been like a blanket, warming him. Protecting him. “Mom and dad lived the life they wanted to. When they died... I think it happened so fast, they never really knew what hit them.”_

“ _But you were there. You watched it happen,” Nick mumbled, avoiding his gaze._

“ _And nothing will ever change that,” Daniel whispered. “But it's in the past.”_

“ _Are you happy, Daniel?” Nick's old eyes searched his and Daniel wondered if he would look like his grandfather when he was old. If he ever got that old._

_Was he happy? He fiddled with his glass, not sure what to answer. There were more scars on his soul than he probably could count, bearing names of friends and loved ones he'd lost. Daniel wasn't safe. Nothing around him ever was. His work and his life were a constant fine line to walk._

_But he had opened the Stargate. He'd seen and encountered the most thrilling, fascinating things and people._

_And he did have a family. A sister, a brother..._

_He had Jack._

“ _Yes,” Daniel said. “I am. Because for the first time in my life I feel like I belong.”_

_And for the first time he felt like it would last._

_ Nick gave him a crooked smile and raised his glass in a silent toast....  _

...Daniel closed his journal with a bang and put it away. He glanced at Rogelio who sat against a tree, eyes closed.

Taking a deep breath Daniel stood and, when he was sure the guide was asleep, turned to go for a walk.

***

“Well, I can't see a thing,” Jack muttered, squinting through his binoculars.

“I don't want to say 'I told you so' but,” Daniel, who was lying on the moss ground next to Jack, wriggled a little in the hope of finding a more comfortable position. “I told you so. It's dark.”

The moon had wandered behind the mountains so the valley before them lay in darkness. They were hiding between huge palm trees, fern and orchids softly brushing their faces and arms.

Jack let out an irritated grunt and kept searching the valley for movement.

But whatever had been here before was now either under cover as well, or gone.

“We should probably wait till sunrise,” Daniel suggested, his voice barely a whisper.

“Shh...” 

“What?”

“Think I heard something.”

They lay motionless for a couple of minutes, but all remained still and silent.

Daniel, who had hiked this area by daylight in another phase, had led Jack away from the cave, over to one of the waterfalls. As long as the full moon illuminated the area it was relatively easy to stay in the shadows and still watch the terrain. However, if they could hide in the shadows, others could, too. Carefully they had made their way along the waterfall, down into the valley, guns ready. There was an almost electric tension in the air. The sweet scent of the flowers had a slight inebriating effect on Daniel. He felt a little high and a little sick. He'd wondered if Jack felt the same, but the colonel had been focused on moving only, his steps secure, his eyes everywhere.

When Jack had raised his hand, Daniel had frozen on the spot, all thoughts about feeling high or sick gone from his mind. He had followed Jack behind the trees and they'd settled onto their stomachs, both listening to the unmistakable noises of something or someone breaking through the bush.

That's where they were now.

Jack sat up and leaned against one of the trees. Within the fern and tree trunks they had found a natural ditch. Nobody would find them here unless someone stumbled right into them. “All right. Let's stay here. No fire, no flashlight,” Jack said. “Get comfortable. It's going to be a long night.”

BD pulled off his glasses and rubbed a hand over his damp sweaty face. He'd had to take out his contacts because the dust in the temple had constantly caused his eyes to itch. Blinking a couple of times, he put the glasses on again and tipped his head back against the palm tree.

“Why did you have to follow me, Jack?” 

“Let me think.” Jack's sarcasm was like acid. “I want to get you out of here so I can kick your ass.”

“You could've waited till I was back,” Daniel said. He was tired. And the heavy smell of the flowers was starting to bother him again.

“The point is, it's insane to try and pull this off alone. For crying out loud, Daniel – you can't just run off like...” Jack trailed off and then said, “We need Telchak's toy. And I don't remember giving you permission to leave the temple alone.”

“I can't run off like the kid. That's what you were going to say, right?” 

“Yes!” Jack huffed. “And because of you I had to leave the kid behind. If something happens to him...”

“You should've stayed with him. There was no need whatsoever to follow me! If something happens to him it's your own damn fault,” Daniel snapped, anger washing over him. “It was either one of us or both of us going anyway. As you just pointed out, we need the Telchak device so there was no way around using the skulls and coming here.”

There was a long pause and Daniel wished he could see Jack's face in the darkness. After what seemed an eternity, but was in fact probably only a minute, Jack exhaled slowly. “You going alone wasn't an option. Not after you translated those writings.”

“You're wrong about that.”

“Jackson...”

“You can't leave LD behind.” Daniel heard his own words, harsh and ragged. “He needs you.” 

“Yeah, I know. And you can go out there and risk your life without knowing what you're up against. Is that it? Got some superpowers somewhere?” The hiss in Jack's voice, stung as if he'd been slapped; Daniel's rage bubbled up again. 

“This isn't about me. I'm not the one who's supposed to save Earth from Anubis. And he can't do that alone. He needs you. You and the rest of SG-1.”

“You're right. He can't do that alone. Which is why SG-1 is out there trying to figure out what Anubis is up to, and why you and I are lying on the soggy ground, suffocating from this Eau de orchid.“

So Jack had noticed it, too.

The overbearing sweet odor seemed to penetrate everything by now. Daniel found it hard to concentrate. He heard what Jack was saying, but the meaning of the words d idn't get through to him. The scent was driving him over the edge, making him sick. 

A deep, all consuming, uncontrollable sadness slid over him, snatching at his breath, overlaid with anger deep down in his gut... He fell into a bottomless dark hole.. 

What was wrong with him? He rubbed his temples. “Somebody should've stayed with him! He's been left alone enough in his life!”

God, he was losing it... he was drowning in a spiral of devastating all-consuming emotions... His parents had left him behind... Nick had left him behind...

This was wrong. He was long over all this, had dealt with it a long time ago.

Something was happening to him.... Daniel couldn't breathe properly, the air was thickening with this smell...

“...get your act together, dammit!” Strong hands were on his shoulders, shaking him roughly. 

“Wha...?” He blinked at Jack's face hovering above him.

“You're giving away our position.” 

Huh? What position?

“I don't want Daniel to be left behind ever again... You can't leave him because I can't take care of him if you do. I'm like Nick.” 

“What the hell are you talking about? And will you keep it down a notch.” Jack was so close again; his face only inches from Daniel's. “None of us is going to be safe as long as Anubis is out there. The risks we're taking are the ones we have to take - not because we chose to put our lives on the line! Daniel knows that, YOU know that!”

The orchids smelled like the aftershave Nick had used when he had been younger. Daniel remembered the sweet heavy scent from when his grandfather had visited them in Egypt once or twice.

“Nick was always obsessed by his work, always only focused on myths and chasing after treasures, artifacts. First the Fountain of Youth, then the skull... meaning of life stuff. Sound familiar?” He chuckled, a bitter nasty sound. “It runs in the family.”

“Jackson... Daniel... I don't know what's wrong with you, but something's VERY wrong!” Jack pushed him deeper into the fern. Daniel felt the cool dampness of the moss under his head, felt the back of his neck getting wet. “Listen to me! You are not anything close to being like Nick.”

“You don't know that,” Daniel said, licking his lips. He pushed against Jack, trying to free his arms which were pinned down above his head by strong calloused hands, long fingers curled around his wrists. 

“Yes. Yes, I do. And I'm gonna explain to you why. But now you have to stop this, okay? We're on a mission. Remember the Telchak device, Daniel? The one we need to find and bring home? Come on... Stay with me here!”

Jack's voice was very urgent, but Daniel was distracted by Jack's hot breath puffing over his face with every word he said. Was distracted by the power Jack had over him, pinning him down like this.

The sadness went away, making space for something new.

Daniel blinked.

He wanted to make a point, right? Something important Jack had to understand... he couldn't quite remember what it was. The thoughts were slipping from his mind and instead he gazed into the outlines of Jack's face, feeling how heavy Jack was on him, how warm Jack's breath was...

“I love you, you know?” Daniel said drunkenly.

***

“Jesus...” Jack whispered, his throat getting dry. “Don't.” But he didn't move, didn't flinch. He wasn't even sure why he had thrown himself on top of Jackson. It seemed a good idea when he had started to yell and laugh like a loon, to ground him, to get through to him... 

“I always loved you. Always will.” There was a smile in Daniel's voice. “You're right. It's what makes me different. Nick didn't know how to love... But I do.”

Well, this was all nice and cozy, but what the heck...

Jack turned his head and listened for the sounds of approaching enemies, but aside from their own heavy breathing he heard nothing.

Those orchids were really making him sick. It seemed to get worse by the hour. They should return to the cave, wait for morning...

“Jack?”

“Yeah?” He turned his attention back to the man underneath him.

Daniel let out a soft sigh, raised his head and captured Jack's mouth in a kiss, his lips hot and lush and inviting... Jack heard the alarm bells ring in his head, but they were far away and everything became meaningless as months and months of suppressed longings and needs surfaced...

“Daniel... Daniel,” he whispered in wonder when they broke the kiss. Jack's calloused hands let go of Daniel’s wrists and cupped his face, thumbs caressing the familiar features. “I missed you. God, I missed you.”

He tried to remember why he had missed Daniel; something nagged at his mind. But it wasn't important. Daniel was here now and Jack felt like he was going insane with happiness and the intensity of that feeling scared him. Scared him because... because... Jack didn't do happy like that. Not anymore. Not this way. Not... But Daniel was here now. With him. And they kissed again, Jack rubbing his mouth against Daniel's, entering and exploring...

“Missed you, too,” Daniel murmured.

“This is wrong,” Jack whispered as his hands carefully removed the glasses. But how could it be? He had done this hundreds of times... he knew he had... He gently placed the glasses on the ground and traced Daniel's eyebrows with his fingertips, then brushed his hand through damp hair, while his mouth found Daniel's again.

And again.

“Wrong,” Daniel agreed and his voice seemed to have an echo all of a sudden.

A blow to his head lifted Jack like a feather, then dropped him like a stone. He sprawled on top of Daniel, pain exploding like a hand grenade inside his skull.

_Wrong wrong wrong..._ pounded in his mind and for a moment the smell of the orchids made him choke... he needed to fight the darkness, needed to stay conscious...

 


	7. Evolution VII

**VII**

LD hiked along the waterfall, the steep slope causing him to slip and almost fall several times. But there were enough stones and dead trees here to hold on to as he carefully made his way down.

On their way up here he had seen the pond where the waterfalls met.

It hadn't been that far; he remembered they'd reached a high plateau just before the most difficult part of the trail had begun.

“Better slow down a bit, amigo,” Rogelio's concerned voice came from behind him. “I'm the guide. That should mean I am taking lead, right? You will fall and break your neck.”

“And Jack won't be happy about that. I know,” Daniel muttered, impatiently waiting for the guide to catch up. 

“That's right, muchacho,” Rogelio quipped.

Daniel wished he would stop calling him 'kid' in one way or the other. But then, that's what he was, right? He frowned and skipped on down the trail. When he'd decided to go on a walk earlier, something odd had happened. He had left Rogelio sleeping and had been on his way to the waterfall, when he'd turned and looked back at their small campsite.

He hadn't consciously thought about going all the way down to the bottom of the falls, but looking back at it now, it probably had been on his mind, somewhere.

Daniel had stopped in his tracks and wondered in how much trouble he'd be if he left the campsite without the guide, and without letting the guide know where he would go.

He'd been about to breaking two rules in one go.

If Jack found out about this Daniel would end up being grounded and stripped of his privileges forever. And poor Rogelio might lose the will to live when faced with colonel-mother-hen-O'Neill.

“Okay,” he had muttered to himself. “So I'll go back and write him a note. I have my radio, too. It's not as if I'm leaving without a trace.”

Nodding to himself, he had returned to camp, sat down at the fire, notebook and pen in hand, wondering what to write so Rogelio wouldn't freak when he found out Daniel was gone.

Writing a note wasn't exactly what he was supposed to do either. Jack had left him behind, trusting him not to get into trouble. Maybe for once he shouldn't push it.

In the end he had waited impatiently until Rogelio had woken up from his nap. It hadn't been too hard to convince the guide to walk with him. There wasn't much entertainment to occupy them and after a bit of whining and doing the 'I'm so bored please let us walk around a bit' act, Daniel had gotten his wish.

_There, Jack, are you satisfied now? Have my watch dog with me_ ,  he thought as he spotted the sparkle of water between the tangled trees down the slope. _And I won't do anything. I just want to take a look around, okay? Nothing fancy, really. Just a bit of exploring the area. Rogelio knows the territory, he's an adult and he's responsible and reliable_ . 

“There,” Rogelio pointed out, as they stepped out of the forest onto the clearing. “There's your pond.”

“It's a pool,” Daniel said, amazed when they stepped closer. “Did you know this isn't a natural pond?”

Rogelio followed him to the edge of the basin. Moss and flowers were sprawling everywhere, but the edges of the pool were too symmetric to be natural. It was a large basin, a perfect rectangle.

“It was probably used to collect water for baths and cooking. When we're back I need to report the temple and this pool so they can send a team of archaeologists up here. They might find a whole village,” Rogelio said.

Daniel bent over the edge. “Or it was meant for ceremonies. It could have been part of the house of Chac. He was often shown as a man with the head of a frog. And since he was the god of weather and water...”

All four waterfalls came down from the mountains into the large pool. Daniel was sure there had to be a drain somewhere though. Otherwise it would overflow.

But if there was a drain, this wasn't the bottom of the falls.

He craned his neck to see better. The walls and the ground of the pool were covered with plants as well, so all Daniel could see was green dazzling water. Sun rays danced in the falls and Daniel remembered Minnesota and how he and Jack had looked at the rainbows in the waterfalls near Jack's cabin.

_Please come back safe_ , he thought.  _Come home safe, both of you..._

***

Pain was always a good indication that he was still alive to some degree.

Oy, this felt like the biggest hangover ever.

Blinking owlishly Jack tried to adjust to the bright sunlight, his head feeling like it'd blow up any minute. He needed to cradle it with his hands to keep it from exploding... only his hands were immobile.

And his head probably wouldn't blow up anyway.

What's with the hands?

Tied.

Right.

Need to know... Why was he hungover, tied to what felt like a tree, feeling like throwing up and... where the hell was he?

He cracked one eye open properly and caught a glimpse of green and brown.

Trees.

Nice. Not.

He slowly turned his head when he heard a low groan to his left.

Funny. Jackson was tied to a tree too...

Squeezing his eyes tightly shut and then opening them wide, Jack tried to get the cotton wool out of his brain.

Waking up and being tied to a tree was SO not good.

Another glance at Jackson confirmed they were indeed both tied to trees, their hands and ankles bound with strong hemp rope.

Jack cleared his throat, swallowing something that felt like phlegm... better not to think about it too closely. “Hey,” he whispered hoarsely, “Jackson.”

Jackson had his head back on the rough bark, eyes closed, a thin layer of perspiration on his pale face. He swallowed hard several times, muttering, “G'me minute.”

He looked exactly like Jack felt. And right now Jack only hoped his friend wouldn't start puking... He wasn't sure he could stand that without following right behind.

But the convulsive swallowing stopped and Jackson opened bleary, dark circled eyes. The glasses were gone, probably taken away by whoever took them hostage.

“Fine,” Jackson said. “You?”

“Peachy.” He didn't feel his feet anymore and his hands were pretty numb, too. He tried moving them, circling his wrist to loosen the hemp, but it didn't do any good. 

“What happened?”

“Well, one moment we were trying to get comfortable and the other it was wham-bam on my head and now... this,” Jack said.

Jackson's eyes suddenly widened as he gazed over at him. “Oh my god,” he moaned.

“What?”

“You, ah, don't remember anything?”

“It was dark. And there was that smell... orchids or something. Pretty intense. And you were venting about being like Nick and I was...” Jack swallowed again, bile rising in his throat at the memory of that sickening sweet smell. Then the _other_ memory hit him like a ton of bricks. “Aw, crap.” 

He was trying to think of something to say, apologize maybe, or maybe not... But he was still wracking his brain for the right words when Jackson hissed, “We've got company.”

Jack was no expert in ancient cultures, and anthropology really was Daniel’s field of expertise, but the little dark-skinned guy walking towards them looked like an Aztec. Or Mayan.

“What is he?” Jack whispered.

“Mayan. Actually, he looks like he's coming right from the ancient times, probably 1000 B.C.. “

“Are you telling me that guy is over 2000 years old?”

“No, Jack, I'm saying he LOOKS like that. I mean, like a man from that era, I didn't...”

“Ba'ax ka wa'alik.” The Maya – or whatever he was – stood before them, holding up both hands.

Jack looked at Jackson quizzically. “Howdy?”

“In k'aaba Daniel Jackson.” He pointed at Jack. “In k'aaba Jack O'Neill.” 

“Yohel maya le ts'ulo'.” The man smiled, baring two rows of decayed teeth. There was, however, something glittering in his mouth. Did Mayas have gold teeth? 

“What's he sayin'?”

“The white man knows Mayan.”

“Ah.”

Licking his lips, Jackson replied something and the man responded in a long winded speech.

“I told him we don't mean him any harm,” Jackson murmured in O'Neill's direction. “He asked if the evil god sent us and I said no. He wants to know where we're from.” He turned back to the Maya and replied with an equally long litany of foreign words, then translated for Jack, “I told him we came through the skulls and are traveling the spiral circle.” 

The Maya came closer, too close for comfort, and stared searchingly into Jack's eyes. His face was wrinkled, reminding Jack of a gnarled tree. Up close, he thought the guy really might be very old. He was dressed in a loincloth and a white sleeveless shirt. His hair, flowing over his shoulders, was long and black with streaks of white in it. His skinny arms were covered in some painted or tattooed ornaments. He was wearing ear and nose rings, and even his eyebrows were pierced with what looked like tiny beads. On his wrists and ankles were heavy looking bracelets and around his neck was a leather band with a small tablet attached to it.

“Uchben.”

Jack raised an eyebrow.

“Uchben... ancient,” Jackson murmured, frowning. 

“Ancient as in _the_ Ancients or just ancient ancient?”

“I don't...”

The old man placed a cool leathery hand on Jack's forehead and he flinched away, his skull hitting the rough bark of the tree he was bound to. But the hand followed, settling feather-like on Jack's brow. “Uchben.” This was followed by another spurt of flowing words and Jack felt himself getting slightly dizzy as he was forced to look into those deep, dark eyes.

Finally Maya-man stepped away, nodded and pulled a knife.

“Whoa,” Jack shouted at the looks of the sharp blade glistening in the sunlight. 

The blade cut through the hemp rope like butter as his feet were freed. Then Maya-man stepped behind him, cutting his hands loose.

Jack rubbed his wrists, shuffled his prickling feet and waited for Jackson to be released.

Once they were both untied, the Maya motioned for them to follow him.

“You think we can trust him?”

“I think we don't have another choice. At least he's not exactly zombie or demon-like.”

“There's that.”

They trailed after him, following a path along the waterfall. It went downhill for a while and finally ended at a clearing with a large pool of water.

“See that? All the waterfalls are flowing into this basin,” Jackson whispered.

Maya-man pointed at the pool, all the while talking to Jackson. He looked kinda worried and Jackson was frowning a lot. This didn't bode well.

Jack walked over to the pool and peered into it. The water was clear, but the pool was deep. He could see plants and rough stonewalls. If the Telchak device was down there, he foresaw a bath in his future. And would that thing still work if it had been sitting underwater for so long?

Suddenly a faint fluorescent green glow emerged from deep in the water.

He was about to call Jackson, when a sharp pain in his fron made him wince. He jerked both hands up to his temples as scrambled meaningless words and images flooded his mind, overlapping thoughts in a language he didn't know... and his cozars were about to give in... Oh crap, this was familiar...

Then it was over.

Jackson's hand was on his arm, shaking him lightly. “Jack? Are you okay?”

“No,” he croaked, and then blinked. “Yeah. Guess so.”

“What just happened?”

“I don't know. I looked into the water and zoned out for a moment.”

“Zoned?”

Did he have to repeat everything?

“Yes, BD. Zoned. As in...”

Maya-man interrupted, talking rapidly as he pointed at the pool and at Jack, his old dark eyes gleaming feverishly.

Jackson listened for a moment. Then his jaw dropped. “Ba'axten? Uchben?”

Another flood of words left the Mayan's mouth. He grabbed Jackson's arm and pulled him closer to the pool

“Whoa... Hey!” Jack stepped towards them, his fingers closing around the handle of his knife strapped to his belt. “What's going on?”

“It's... It's okay, Jack. He's not threatening me. He just wants to show me... Oh.” They all gazed into the deep water where the green glow was increasing. Many plants and lichen wafted through the water, generating tiny bubbles of oxygen. 

“Hach k'as! Hach k'as! E'hoch'e'en! Ts'oksik kisiin!” 

The Maya was shaking his head violently, repeating this over and over, gesturing at the pool.

“Make it stop,” Jackson translated, clearly flummoxed. “Jack, he wants you to make it stop. The... the devil... I guess he means the light in the water.”

“Did he tell you _how_ I'm supposed to stop it? Showed you the switch, maybe?” Inappropriate sarcasm probably wasn't the answer, but it was something Jack was good at. 

Jackson and their new friend exchanged more gibberish. Okay, now Future-boy here looked really spooked as he turned to Jack. “You can do it with your mind. He says you're... an Ancient.”

The glow had stopped increasing now, but the Maya was still worried, going by the way he peered into the water.

“I'm old, but not THAT old,” Jack said.

“Jack... try... to... I don't know...”

“What? And what IS that thing down there anyway?”

“I think it's the Telchak device,” Jackson said flatly. “And you turned it on.”

***

LD was still gazing into the water. Not that he could see anything, other than dark greenish moss. But something was happening. It was like someone tugged at the corners of his mind, pulling and stretching it.

His hand gripped the hard stone rim of the pool when the world started to spin and he thought he'd fall in.

Then he found himself leaving the ground.

_This has happened before_ , he thought, more amazed than scared. He knew what this was. He was on a journey back in time, only in his mind. When he'd been in Antarctica to study Aiyana's body it had happened, too. And later, before SG-1 and Jackson had gone to Abydos to find the Eye of Ra... He had witnessed the Ancients leaving Earth so many thousand years ago. After the plague... But that wasn't where he was going now... He was floating in space and time, not seeing anything for what seemed to be an eternity...

Then Aiyana was beside him and they were flying... no, hovering, no really nothing like that. Daniel knew he was still standing at the pool in the jungle, that all of this was only happening in his mind.

“ _Danielis,” Aiyana said tenderly, reaching out a hand to touch his face._

“ _Aiyana Where are we going?”_

“ _It is time for you to learn more about what was,” she said softly, her eyes sparkling with affection._

_Then the images began to flow._

_He saw them. Ancients, human beings like him, living on Earth among humans. But not as the highly evolved civilization they had once been. “What happened?” Daniel asked Aiyana “Why are they living like this?”_

“ _Remember we left Earth after the plague... these are those who came back from the Lost City when it had to be evacuated.”_

“ _The Lost City had to be evacuated because of the plague,” Daniel said._

“ _Not because of the plague. The plague had long been gone by then.”_

“ _But... “ Daniel was getting confused._

_Aiyana, however, shushed him and went on, “The ones who returned from the Lost City to Avalon. The ones who did not ascend, decided to live among the Tau'ri without disturbing their natural evolution.”_

“ _The Lost City, what is it? Where is it?” Daniel asked but she shushed him again with a smile and a shake of her head._

“ _It is not time yet for you to know. Come.... let your mind show you the information you need...”_

“ _But...”_

“ _In time you will gain all the knowledge you seek.”_

_Daniel tried to ward off all the questions racing through his mind. He couldn't concentrate on anything. Where was this Atlantis? Was it in their galaxy? Was it there they would find the weapon to defeat Anubis? Why did the Ancients return from this Lost City... What..._

“ _Danielis, I know you are a scholar with an incredible thirst for all that is knowledge. But you cannot force your mind to reveal information that is not yet meant for you to know.” She mentally touched his temple and he felt his mind slow down almost against his will._

_He saw hunters and fishermen... Ancients living among them, farming, hunting or fishing. Or as monks, far away in small groups on their own. Some were guarding the astria portas, keeping to themselves.... But those who decided to live among the humans..._

“ _They mingled,” Daniel said. “They not only re-seeded life in the Milky Way when they returned from the lost city.... they also took humans for mates at one point. Built families, had children.” That's what Aiyana wanted to show him. The human race as it existed today was partly direct descendant of the Alterans, the Ancients._

“ _But what does it mean?” Daniel didn't understand._

“ _Some of t_ _hose children carried an Alteran gene within them and passed it on to their own children and they still do,” Aiyana said. “I think you would call it the Ancient gene. It allows them to activate Ancient technology and, with the right guidance, they would be able to archive enlightenment more easily than normal humans.”_

“ _Are you... are you telling me I'm an... an Ancient descendant?” He remembered how Oma had offered him ascension after Reese attempted to kill him. And she had put all this knowledge into his brain. Was it because he was one of those who carried that Alteran... Ancient gene?_

_Aiyana shook her head. “No, Danielis. But you are very special in your own way. You are a seeker, an apprentice. Oma has high hopes in you to pass on your knowledge and compassion to the world.”_

“ _What...?”_

_ But he was shushed again by her.  “ Focus, my parvus puer.“ _

_Daniel smiled as she called him her little boy, realizing he wasn't bothered by this endearment anymore. At the same time he noticed that unlike previous times when he'd been in these visions, he didn't picture himself as grown-up anymore. He was still little in this place his mind had created for him and Aiyana to communicate._

_Okay, he wasn't going to analyze what that meant._

“ _Those who have the Ancient gene also possess the ability to heal and are able to retain the knowledge given from the place of our legacy, once they used it.” Her green eyes settled on him. “But it is all in their subconscious mind and can't be triggered without much guidance and teaching from one of their ancestors.”_

“ _The place of our legacy.” Daniel swallowed. “You're talking about the repository of knowledge.”_

“ _No-one but those possessing the Ancient gene, or those who ascended and return to human form, are able to access it.”_

_He felt himself being pulled through time and space again, towards another destination, while he still tried to process what Aiyana had just told him. Jack was a descendant of the Ancients?_

“ _And he has no idea...” Daniel whispered._

“ _No, he does not know. It was never meant to be activated before the human race had evolved enough to know. The events following the discovery of your astria porta led him to the repository, which not only gave him knowledge, but also activated the gene.”_

“ _So... people pass on_ _the gene on to their children.”_

“ _Yes. Charlie O'Neill possessed it, too. Unfortunately he died before he could pass it on to his own children.”_

“ _But... there are others...?”_

“ _Yes.”_

“ _How many?”_

“ _You are straying again, child. You must know that your compater possesses the gene in order to continue the path. He has the gene, you have the knowledge. Together you will proceed to fulfill your destiny.”_

_Suddenly Daniel remembered something Adam Pierson had once told them when they had discovered Jackson in Egypt._ One has the knowledge and the other one has the ability to use it. 

_According to Pierson it had been Oma who'd said that. It made a lot more sense now._

_Aiyana smiled. “Yes. You have the knowledge; Jack O'Neill knows how to use it. Once you've guided him in the right direction he will learn quickly.”_

“ _But he has the knowledge, too. Or had it. When he had the repository downloaded into his head. Why couldn't Oma just give him the information he needs? Why me?” He still wasn't sure if he was grateful for what she had done to him. However, he was grateful to Oma for saving his life._

“ _While he has the ability to use his gene, he isn't open minded enough. Jack O'Neill has, what you call trust issues. He will not allow me or Oma to guide him. But his loyalty to you is stronger than any bond he shares with anyone. His mental shields are not easy to break if he does not wish to give one access.”_

“ _In other words, he's a stubborn SOB. Even too stubborn for you. And he's not as dumb as he acts,” Daniel joked weakly and it caused her to chuckle softly._

“ _He has to open his mind and find what lies within him. Set it free.” Her voice became serious again when she continued. “But he needs to know first. And the time has come for him to know and to accept. He is the only one who can bring you the Telchak device. And you have to guide him further.”_

“ _I...”_

“ _Shush. Our lesson is not over yet, precious child.”_

_Again, images flooded Daniel's mind and he made an effort to focus on what he saw..._

_...The temple in the jungle, free of plants and lichen, looking like it was built only a short time ago, new and shiny. Inside the hidden chamber, Daniel saw a Mayan priest overseeing_ _other men chiseling_ _and carving_ _glyphs into the walls. Torches were their only light and they were working in secrecy._

“ _Seeb!” The priest told them to work faster, his voice laced by fear. The night was soon over and Telchak would return from_ _his travels between the stars. He could not be allowed to find this secret compartment nor the writings. Defying him would mean death for everyone involved. Death was honor for the Mayas. But if it was due to punishment through their god, they would have to move to Xillbalba, the underworld, instead of traveling the journey to rebirth or the afterlife. The underworld was cold and dark, a place feared and despised by all..._

_...“What are they doing?” Daniel whispered even though he knew they couldn't hear him. They were merely like fragments from a database Oma had placed into his mind._

_Then he knew. They were putting the writings on the wall he and BD had translated today..._

_...The priest who oversaw the writing process paced, mumbling prayers in which he asked several other gods for forgiveness for his wrong doings. But the giant gods had commanded_ _him to obey. The giant gods who had come to talk to the priest were powerful beings. More powerful than Telchak could ever be. They were giants of mist, not flesh and blood like Telchak._

_And they had promised him... his people... sanctuary._

_ A place in another life without fear, hunger or sickness. A place they would be honored with, if they helped to stop Telchak from creating other demons. _

_It was unthinkable._

_Yet, he was trying._

_Too alluring had the promises of the giant gods been, too tempting not to fall for. No more fear, no more horror, no more of his people being turned into demons._

_Telchak created the demons. Evil demons. He took the ones who sacrificed themselves for him at the temple. Took their dead bodies and blew life into them again, creating evil creatures who would haunt the forest, kill their own people and feast randomly on their prey..._

_...Daniel swallowed as the image shifted and he witnessed two men on a Goa'uld mothership._

_One of them was a Maya, very wealthy and honored going by his attire. Wearing colorful robes and many body piercings, his head flattened in the typical Mayan fashion and his teeth glittering with embedded stones as he bared them._

_Telchak._

_The other one was wearing simple black robes. He was a tall man, but his back was to Daniel so he couldn't see his face. However, they were standing on the bridge of his ship and Daniel could see the head of the jackal decorating his throne..._

_...“_ _Give it to me,” Anubis said, outraged._

“ _No.”_

“ _You will never reveal its secrets. All you do is create useless beings who will kill all your slaves.”_

“ _I am experimenting. It takes time.”_

“ _Fool!”_

“ _It will one day sustain our lives as long as we want them to. Eternal life, Lord Anubis. Do you not think it is worth letting me continue my work?”_

_Anubis returned to his throne..._

_...Daniel could now see his face and was a little amused at how ordinary Anubis had looked when he'd still been human. There was nothing superior or god-like in that face. When Anubis's eyes began to glow dangerously, Daniel just shrugged. It was a Goa'uld. An evil-spirited, nasty parasite. But no more scary than any other Goa'uld he'd met. Funny. Somehow his deep fear of Anubis had made Daniel believe that the system lord had been as scary before his ascension..._

_. ...“I will return for you, Telchak,” Anubis said with a sneer. “Soon.”... _

_...Daniel watched Telchak ring off the ship and then it became dark around him as Aiyana appeared beside him once more._

“ _When Anubis came back Telchak had developed the sarcophagus. But the priest you have seen before had hidden the device he created it from.”_

“ _He took it through the skulls,” Daniel guessed. “And Telchak never found out who took it and where it had gone?”_

“ _No. By the time the skulls were carved and the writings were finished, Telchak was deep in battle with Anubis. The sarcophagus had been created, but Anubis still wanted the original device. He defeated and killed Telchak, but could not find what he sought. None of the Ancients, as you call us, were on Terra anymore at that time. We had ascended or left the galaxy. The Giants were the ones who helped the priest to hide the device so it could not be used to create more evil.”_

“ _The Giants carved the skulls.”_

_Aiyana shook her head. “They had left physical form long ago and could not accomplish such a task. But they used the priest and his descendants as their tools. They created the skulls. Once all the skulls were carved, the Giants built the circle and the inter-dimensional portals. They trapped all of Telchak's demons in the core of the circle, at the bottom of the waterfalls, together with the device. No-one was ever to find it.”_

“ _But we did. Jack and BD are in that other dimension,” Daniel said, a cold hand clutching around his heart._

“ _Once they have reached the core there will be a pool similar to this one. Hear me, Danielis. The last descendant of the priest you have seen in your vision guards the device you seek. He has another skull which he uses to communicate with the Giants, should there be danger.”_

“ _That's what the other skull was for. The one on the Giants's planet. But how does the one in Belize play into this? The one Nick found?”_

“ _The Giants have a network of these crystal skulls for means of traveling and communications. Focus, Danielis. Once more. I know you are tired. The lesson is almost over.” Her hand gently touched his forehead, then she smiled again. “Such a busy mind. Always wandering, always looking for answers, always asking questions. I will now touch your mind so you will teach Jack later to help the one called Selmak. He will create the weapon.”_

“ _But Jack...”_

“ _Jack has to make his choices. If he does, he will bring the Telchak device and you will make sure they return safely to this phase. It is time now, Danielis. You need to sleep. You are very exhausted, my child...” She blew a kiss on his temple and Daniel tried to stay alert, tried to voice all the questions he still had._

But as he felt her leave him, he was too tired to move a muscle. He began to feel his body again, how it became heavy and slow. He curled up in the soft long grass at the pool, closed his eyes and fell asleep.


	8. Evolution VIII

**VIII**

“I tried. He won't listen to me,” Jackson said flatly.

“For crying out loud... I'm NOT an Ancient.”

“He insists he looked into your mind and found the evidence that you're some kind of descendant...”

“Look, that's totally derentis!”

Jackson blinked.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “What?!”

“You just said derentis.”

“I did not.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Derentis - what's that mean?”

“Well out of the subtext I'd say it means insane.”

“Right. Because that's what this is. Insane. Your little Mayan friend here believes the Ancients are my ancestors and I have inherited some kind of superpowers that activated the Telchak device? If that's not insane, then I don't know what is.” 

“You said derentis,” Jackson accused him like that was something real bad.

Which it probably was.

Oy.

“He also says the flowers that bloom at nights probably opened your mind enough to remember your heritage at least on a subconscious level.”

“He says that?” Jack rubbed his fron, his head, whatever. “What does he know about my subconscious levels?”

“The flower's scent is some kind of drug.”

“Ah. Explained why I kissed you then. Was worried there for a moment,” Jack snorted. 

Jackson grimaced. “You know sometimes you're such an asshole, I really don't know why I ever even wanted to be with you. Besides, I kissed you first.”

“You tell me. I've always been that way. Guess you got off on it.”

“Fuck off.”

“Snotty.”

“Prick,” Jackson snapped, turned and stalked off towards the little hut Maya-man had retreated to after a long-winded explanation Jack didn't understand a word of. 

The Telchak device was still happily glowing at the bottom of the pool and Maya-man had been very unhappy about it. When he had realized that Jack had no idea how to turn the device off, he'd gotten even more upset. When Jackson had told him Jack didn't even have a clue how he turned it on, or that he was a descendant of the Ancients, Maya-man had thrown up his hands, started yammering loudly and gone into his hut.

Crap.

And now Jack had successfully pissed off Jackson, too.

He straightened his jacket, rubbed a hand through his grimy hair and walked into the lion's den.

Maya-man wasn't there.

Another one of those pesky skulls sat on an altar at the back of the room.

Jackson sat on a small bedstead, pinching the bridge of his nose. He didn't look up when Jack entered, just stared at the opposite wall, jaw set into a hard line.

“Where'd he go?” Jack looked around the small house.

“He used this skull. Said he had to talk to the Giants.”

“Ah. Maybe they can help with the Telchak thingy.” Jack stood there, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets.

“Ab kin insists only you can.”

“Is that his name?”

“Yeah. Actually his name is a lot longer, but that's the shortest... anyway, he's the last one of a very old family of priests who has always guarded the Telchak device and the creatures Telchak created. He said he was told the Ancients would return one day to take the device with them. When we came through he had to take us hostage to make sure we weren't... demons. Apparently nobody but members of his family have ever come through the skulls since the Giants created this place.”

“Swell. Too bad we're not Ancients.”

“Have you ever considered he might be right?” 

“Uh... Nope.” Even though he had probably said... whatever Jackson insisted he'd said. And he had that weird bunch of scrambled words and images popping into his fr... head before. There was a thought... “Maybe he just sensed I had my head stuck in that repository of knowledge once?” Jack really, really hoped that was it.

“Maybe,” Jackson mumbled, not convinced. Then he looked at Jack for the first time since they had snapped at each other. “Look, could you just go out there and try? Open your mind. Concentrate on the device... anything? It can't hurt to try, can it?”

“Jackson, I did not turn it on. Is that clear enough for you? When your friend returns, tell him we need to get that thing out of the water. I want to know what else is down there.” He turned and left, welcoming the fresh air outside. 

He still felt a little hungover which was probably why he had lost it earlier. And Jackson must still feel it, too. It was a little bit like when he'd called him plant boy back then - when they had been at each other's throat about videotaping a plant.

Rubbing his temples once more, Jack went over to the pond.

Or it was some effect from the glowing device.

It shouldn't glow green.

It should emit a white light, not green.

Abscido. Turn it OFF...

***

BD waited a moment longer for Ab kin's return. When the priest didn't come back he sighed and left the hut to search for Jack. They had to get past what they'd done under the flower's influence. He remembered being pretty worked up over some other things, too, last night.

Had he really lost it and vented about Nick and rejection issues? Those flowers must've done some weird stuff to their brain cells.

Jack was rooted to the spot at the pool, gazing at something in the distance.

When he reached the colonel he immediately noticed the glow was gone. The device was off. How...?

“Jack?” He put a tentative hand on his friend's arm, but Jack stiffened so he placed the hand on the rim of the pool instead. “What happened?”

“It switched itself off,” Jack ground out.

“No, it didn't,” Daniel said softly. “And you know it.” 

Jack swallowed hard, then exhaled slowly. “You know how I hate it when something's messing with my head.”

And more so, he was trained not to LET anything mess with his head. Over the five years before his downsizing, growing up and traveling in time, BD had seen Jack fighting an alien entity, the gamekeeper, the blood of Sokar and several other mind-altering phenomenons more or less successfully. And Daniel had had his encounters with mind-messing as well. So, yeah...

“I know.”

“This isn't happening.”

“Yes, Jack. It is. You turned it off, didn't you?” And if Ab kin was right, this wasn't so much something messing with Jack's head, rather something that had been inside Jack all the time.

“The flowers are some sort of trigger,” BD tried to explain. “They make us vulnerable. And they probably have you remembering some of the repositories download... among other things.”

That, at least was a possibility Jack could probably accept. That Ancient knowledge had once been in his head. What if the Asgard had only removed part of it and suppressed the rest?

Jack visibly pulled himself together and relaxed. “Whatever. We have to get that thing outta there.”

“We should wait until Ab kin is back. I have a bad feeling it's not only the Telchak device down there.”

“Zombies?”

“Yeah.”

They started walking a small path, leading from the pool to a small field where Ab kin grew corn and some fruits. “He's been living here all his life?”

“He grew up here with his father, and then was taken back to his people at a small village when he came of age. He was supposed to take a woman, raise a son and return with him to teach him how to guard the device. But Ab kin never had a son and his wife died. He chose to come back alone. The Giants are his spiritual guides. They'll choose a new guardian when it's time.”

Jack shook his head. “Nuts.”

“If we take the device home and get rid of these... zombies, there's no need for a new guard.”

Jack nodded absently. “What do you think we're up against?”

“I don't know. I haven't seen many horror movies. But if they're really dead bodies turned back to live, they're probably quite...”

“Ugly? Smelly?”

Daniel couldn't suppress a small grin. “Yeah. That, too.” Leave it to Jack to put his mind at ease. Sometimes that kind of humor was exactly what he needed to keep going.

Ab kin came out of his hut and, seeing them standing there, hurried over and turned to BD, knowing Jack wouldn't understand him. Apparently the Giants were very pleased that it was Jack and Daniel who had discovered the skulls. Quetzalcoati sent his greetings. Ab kin was impressed they were known by the Giant gods and was now even more convinced Jack was the Ancient descendant who had come to rid him of the demons and his burden.

“We have to go down into the water before night falls,” BD translated for Jack. “By night, the scent of the flowers will make us vulnerable. He doesn't know how many are down there, but he says they're dangerous and nothing has been able to kill them yet. He says... uh, he insists, you have the power of the mind to, er, eliminate them.”

“I have a handgun and a knife,” Jack said dryly.

“So do I. And a flashlight and a power bar.”

“A power bar?” Jack waggled his fingers at him. “Gimme.”

“Why?”

“Breakfast. We'll share.”

Scowling, he pulled the sticky bar from his jacket, unwrapped it and broke it in half. It looked a little squashed. “Why didn't you bring snacks from camp anyway?” He handed one half to Jack, who gobbled it down.

Ab kin's eyes widened and, uttering a flood of words, he ran back into his hut. When he returned he was holding two small corn breads in one and a jug of water in the other hand. “Haanal.”

“Food,” BD translated unnecessarily. 

“Thanks?” Jack said, looking expectantly at him.

”Dyos bo'otik,” he translated and Jack repeated it with an awkward nod at Ab kin, who smiled broadly, nodding in return.

They ate the bread and drank the water while Jack wondered aloud how they could get to the Telchak device, fight zombies and not drown in the water. BD asked Ab kin, who told them there was a drain in the pool. Once the water was drained, they could go in. The circle of skulls to return them to the temple and into the right phase were in the pool as well.

“Bad thing is, once the water is gone, the others can get out, too,” BD said.

“Do we have a choice?”

Apparently not.

“What else does he know about them?” Jack asked.

It turned out Ab kin didn't know much, as he had never seen them himself. Neither had his father. Nor his grandfather. “Some of the evil demons escaped many generations ago, but the Giants returned them,” BD said.

“How come the Giants can't get rid of 'em?”

Good question.

Ab kin said the demons were condemned to stay in this place until they died. Then he said something else and Daniel latched onto that.

“Jack... he says the demons can't travel through the skulls, not here and not to the Giants's place. But... we can.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The skull in Ab kin's house. It can transport us to the Giants. From there we can go to the SGC and get more efficient weapons, maybe even back up. The Giants are our allies. If they contact the SGC and explain the situation they'll let us through even without GDOs.” At Jack's curt nod, he turned to Ab kin and explained their plans.

Ab kin said he'd have to talk to the gods and ask them first.

BD eyed the sun creep higher and higher into the sky.

***

It would be dark soon.

Jack waited for Jackson's return from the Giants' planet.

What was taking him so long?

His thoughts wandered to his kid, wondering if he was okay or already up to his ears in some trouble. Rogelio better not let him out of sight. He sighed, hoping the Wretch was all right and well, just bored and miserable.

Bored, miserable and cranky, Jack could cope with once they were back. Missing, injured or anything like that was just unacceptable, period. However, being bored and miserable could lead to funny ideas and not-well-thought-through plans...

He slowly rose from the boulder he'd been sitting on when Jackson came out of the hut – followed by Carter, Jacob and Baxter. Everyone was fully geared up and Jack could hardly believe his luck when a P90 and a tac vest were shoved into his arms. “With greetings from General Hammond. That's all the backup he was willing to give us.”

“Carter, how'd you get back so fast?” 

“The Scoutship the Tok'ra gave us had new re-programmed crystals so we were much faster than I expected, sir. Everything went rather smoothly.”

“Teal'c?”

“He's fine. But you know he can't travel through these skulls. He sends his greetings.”

“Great. And, Carter,” He closed his tac vest, then gave her a thumb's up. “Good job.”

“Thank you, sir. It was really a team effort.”

“I know. Keep it that way.” He clapped Baxter's shoulder on his way over to Jackson and Jacob, allowing himself a short moment of relief. 

Jackson and Carter's dad were at the pool, looking at something Ab kin showed them.

“There's a switch to open the drains down there,” Jackson said. “One of us has to dive and push it.” 

“That'd be me.” Jack was already pulling off his tac vest again, followed by his jacket.

“Jack if there are any writings down there...”

“What, you mean some kind of instruction manual? Come on, Jackson. You're kidding right?” He was already pulling his boots off.

“Well...”

“Just this once do as I tell you and stay here,” Jack groused. He threw his pants at Jackson who caught them and let his shirt follow. “Stay,” he repeated. “I've been looking forward to a bath ever since we left the plane.” 

The water was cold and he had to come up for air three times before he found the handle. Plants were getting in his way and he had to use both hands to plow through them, in order to reach the walls. The handle was hidden in a corner of the pool, halfway down to the bottom. Jack could finally make out where the glow had come from. Through the wafting green weeds he caught a glimpse of slits in the ground, probably sealed by a force field which generated a faint light. He turned back to the surprisingly small handle. He could push it with just a little bit of silent groaning and cursing – to reveal a sensor pad. Only there were two. One green, one red.

His lungs burned with the need for air.... Exhaling a frustrated huff of bubbles, he waggled his fingers. Green. Green was good, right? Okay, so green it was. Jack touched the green sensor and watched wide-eyed when one wall of the pool began to sway and roll down. Water plants and swamp began to move, slowly being pulled through the drain.

Jack was in a real hurry to get out of there.

Someone threw in a rope for him when he surfaced, spluttering and kicking water. Carter and Jacob helped him out while Jackson was talking to Ab kin.

Dressed again, Jack joined everyone around the now emptying basin. They had their guns pointed at the bottom and the open drain.

Nothing happened.

Ab kin mumbled to himself, probably prayers. He threw something into the empty pool and Jackson explained it was maze to calm the demons. He then started throwing pieces of jewelry into the pool, still muttering and mumbling.

“All right, let's do this. I assume we'll find a mechanism to deactivate the force field down there. The device is hidden at the bottom in some kind of alcove,” Jack said. Silently he guided his people to where he wanted them descend into the pool. 

***

The Telchak device looked exactly as LD had drawn it from his mind on their vacation in Minnesota. It was a naquadah cube, shaped like a pyramid standing on its top, hollow inside, the pyramid steps covered with minuscule writings.

BD could see it through openings in the bottom of the pool, but Jack was right about the force field. To their right was the drain opening, like a long gaping mouth. The smell of rotten plants and brackish water was overwhelming down here.

“I found the controls for the force field,” Sam called out to them. 

Jack held up a hand to silence her and bent over the open drain, holding his P90 into it. When nothing jumped out of it he nodded at Jacob, who turned to his daughter. “Open it.”

“Done.”

“We don't know where those guys are. Stay together,” Jack said curtly as they let themselves down into the underground passage one by one. 

“Maybe they killed each other,” Baxter pointed out.

“Maybe.”.Jack took lead. “And maybe not.” 

It was dark, but dry down here. BD felt an air draft. There had to be some kind of air circulation. Their lights illuminated old hewn limestone walls. The Telchak device sat dark and harmless on its pedestal.

“Jackson,” Jack hissed. “Take it.”

“Are you sure? Shouldn't we take care of the...”

“No. Take it and get it up there. Give it to Ab kin.” Jack's voice sounded oddly distant, absent, even. “He can't activate it. Carter can take it with her when they return to the Giants' planet. Rogelio doesn't need to see it...” 

“Jack!”

Eyes.

He saw eyes.

At least Daniel thought that's what they all saw. White glowing eyes. He counted five pairs, six... like dancing fireflies, coming closer. They retreated into a small corridor leading away from the pool. The eyes were coming from the corridor on the other side of the chamber. Jacob turned to cover their backs, making sure there weren't any more eyes creeping up on them from behind.

What emerged out of the darkness into the last moments of daylight coming from above the pool were humanoid creatures. Their arms were hanging motionless at their sides, they wore long dirty hair and ragged clothes. Some were naked, covered in something dark that might be body paint or just plain dirt. Their eyes glowed, otherwise their faces were bare of any emotion. There wasn't anything human in those faces, no intelligence, no life.

Jackson blinked.

It was a cliche.

The zombies stopped at the pedestal of the Telchak device, gathered around it.

Then they started to hum.

“Tell me that's an illusion,” Sam groaned.

“Uh, no, I'm afraid not,” Baxter murmured.

“Anyone remember the Land of the Dark?” Jack shuddered. “Those guys look similar.”

“No. They look worse,” Sam said.

“I think they're praying to the device.” Daniel took a step forward, but a hand on his arm held him back. 

“You’re not saying hi to them,” Jack decided, voice final. “They are _not_ nice, Daniel.”

It was funny how Jack remembered calling him by his first name if he wanted to get a point across.

“I wasn't going to say 'Hi',” he grumbled. “I just wanted to get a closer look.”

The humming increased, then stopped, started again, and stopped once more. Then there were grunts as the group became restless. One of them lashed out at the device, but another one growled, pushing him out of the way.

“I think they expected it to be activated. Maybe they were aware of the drain opening and the deactivation of the force field and assumed the device would be on,” Baxter guessed. “Now they're frustrated.”

“I wonder how old they are,” Sam whispered.

“At least 10 000 years,” Daniel replied. “That's when they were banished here. Unless they had... families, which I doubt.” 

“Whoa. What did they eat? No, don't answer that.” She shuddered. 

“I don't think they even have to eat. But I'm not sure. They might eat each other. We don't know how many were originally down here,” Baxter said. 

“That's definitely TMI,” Sam groused.

“Keep your guns up,” Jack ordered, then cursed under his breath when all six figures turned away from the device at once to look at them. 

Resisting the urge to step forward and start his “We come in peace” speech, Daniel raised his weapon higher.

The humming started again and they moved towards them.

Then, like a bunch of haunted house zombies, they started howling and attacked.

“Fire.” Jack's voice was steady and calm as he said it and all hell broke loose. 

It was over soon. Too soon, too fast. They were stepping over the dead bodies, careful not to step into one of them.

“Jackson, you get that thing out of there. Carter, Baxter, cover him and – guard those... things. Jacob you're with me. Let's see where this tunnel leads to.” 

“Hopefully to the skulls that'll take us out of here,” Sam's dad growled. “This place makes me sick. And I have seen many disgusting things in my life. Selmak, of course, is not intimidated. And he doesn’t feel sick unless there's a Reetou on the loose.”

“You can all leave through Ab kin's skull and use the Giants' gate,” Jack said. “But I have a kid waiting for me in Honduras and I'd rather be there soon instead of having to fly in from the SGC again.”

The two men entered the corridor the creatures had come from, the light of their lamps ghosting over the walls as they disappeared into the dark.

Daniel approached the Telchak device, curiously looking at the glyphs. But for once he really didn't want to know how to turn it on and what it would do.

He'd seen enough already. Very carefully he put his hands on each side and tried to pick it up.

The device didn't move.

He tugged a little harder, but nothing happened.

Turning around, he was about to tell Sam when he spotted Baxter crouched by one of the dead creatures.

“Its skin is coated in dirt and some gooey stuff. I'd like to take skin tissue for Radiocarbon dating. It will only take a moment. Daniel, can you assist me?”

“I don't think that's such a good idea,” Sam said. “Stay clear of them.” After a heartbeat she added. “Both of you.” Her P90 was pointed at the mess of dead bodies on the ground.

“She's learned from the best,” Daniel joked as Baxter grinned and reached for his tools.

“She's still a lot nicer than O'Neill,” Gared said, still hunched over the lifeless figure. “This will only take a second.”

Sam opened her mouth to make a remark, when a hand shot up, grabbing Baxter by the throat.

“Gared!” She jerked up her gun and Daniel was beside her, trying to aim at one of them as they all rose fast. Baxter was somewhere in the middle, choking out painful screams.

They fired simultaneously, trying not to hit Baxter in the mix. Two of the zombies went down, one of them still holding Baxter at his throat like a puppet. Shooting two more, Sam covered for Daniel who leaped forward, stabbing one of the creatures with his knife. When it cut through canvas-like skin, the smell emerging from the wound was breathtaking. Gagging, he kicked at the arm of the zombie who held on to Baxter. Something erupted next to him and he found himself covered in disgusting goo as he pulled Baxter out of their midst.

He heard Sam yell at Jack over the radio as he knelt down and opened Baxter's jacket, pushing the string of his boonie out of the way, searching for a pulse.

“Daniel!”

He turned, staring in horror as the creatures Sam had just shot rose again and attacked without hesitation. Jack and Jacob showed up in the corridor and together they put more holes into those things than any normal living being could have survived.

“Carter! Daniel! Fall back into the other corridor!” Jack barked, still firing.

Grabbing Baxter by his shoulders, Daniel followed Sam into the tunnel and moved past her. She waved at him to go on while she covered his back, firing at the entrance to prevent the zombies from following them.

The corridors met a few feet later and Jacob was there to help him with Baxter. They exchanged a look and BD shook his head. There hadn't been a pulse before and as he checked again now, Baxter's skin was already cooling.

That dead thing had squashed his throat in its grip. Just like that.

“We need to find those skulls,” BD said grimly, wiping sticky stuff form the side of his face. 

When they found a chamber at the end of the tunnel, Daniel gently closed Baxter's eyes and propped his body against the wall before they started checking the chamber. It was empty, but another tunnel was leading away from it.

“Great. Let's just hope there are no more of those in there,” Jacob groaned.

They heard the sounds of boots in the corridors and a moment later Sam and Jack appeared. Jack was carrying the Telchak device. “They're on our backs!”

“What about Baxter?” They couldn't just leave him here... 

“He's dead,” Jacob answered Sam's unasked question. 

“Later! RUN!” Jack stormed past Sam who started firing backwards again.

Daniel heard the humming and growling.

Oh god, this was like a very bad b-movie.

Those things wouldn't give up unless blown up with C4. But even if they had C4, an explosion could cause the whole place to crash.

Bad idea. Very bad.

The corridor ended in another chamber.

“There!” Jacob's light caught a row of crystal skulls on pedestals.

“Figure out which one's the right one,” Jack ordered. 

Daniel started on the left and tried them one after another.

The second one on the right whisked him away.

***

Seeing that Jackson was gone, Jack pushed Carter towards the skulls. “You're next. Go.”

“Gared...” she began.

“I'll take care of him. Go. And take this.” He handed her the device.

“Sir...” But she turned and stalked towards the skull, holding the cube like something that might explode in her hands.

Jacob covered Jack's six as he went to get Baxter's body from the other chamber. He had to. There was no way he'd leave the man here with those things to rot or serve as their next lunch. He had to shoot into the crowd of foul bodies already pressing around Baxter. Jack had no idea how many bullets he had put into the stinking, freaking creatures, but he didn't care as long as it kept them at bay. He ducked as Baxter's knife was thrown at him.

Crap. He had to reach him before they got hold of the hand gun at Baxter's belt. Jackson had already taken his P90...

It was too late.

Jack pressed himself flat against the wall of the corridor, sucking in air as the bullets wooshed past him... until the magazine was empty. Then he zipped out of the corridor, yelling and shooting back at them.

They retreated reluctantly, clawing and howling as he snatched up Baxter by his collar and dragged him away.

***

Little Daniel woke up when someone gently shook his shoulder. “Hey, amigo! Are you okay?” His cheek was patted and when he opened his eyes, Rogelio's worried face hovered over him. “There you are, little chico. I was worried! One minute you were looking into the water and then you mumbled something about... something and fell asleep and I couldn't wake you! I tried to call your dad over the radio, but he's not responding.” He helped Daniel to sit and patted his back. “Cómo estás? Are you feeling better, amigo?”

“Muy bien, gracias - I'm fine.” He rubbed his eyes and his pounding head. 

“Gracias as Dios! You scared me!”

“I'm sorry.” He got up, drawn back to the pool. “Rogelio? Are there any fish or dangerous animals in there?” 

“Not that I know of. But I'm no biologist or animal expert. I didn't see any fish in that pool though.”

“So it'd be okay to swim in it?”

“Swim? I don't know... That's disparatado, a crazy idea.”

But Daniel had already started undressing; throwing boots, jacket, shirt and pants on a pile. Only in his shorts, holding his Swiss army knife in one hand, he climbed the stone rim and stuck a toe into the water. “Cold,” he gasped.

“No, no, no, you can't go swim in there, Daniel. I'm not going to allow it! Your old man will rip my poor head off!” Rogelio grabbed his arm, but Daniel held his breath, yanked free and jumped. 

For a moment he thought he was about to die. The sudden cold was like a steel jacket around his chest and he came up, trying frantically to breathe. Then he remembered how Teal'c had taught him to stay calm, to control his moves and he stopped kicking water and tried to relax, then took a tentative breath. And another one.

When the steel jacket let go of his chest, Daniel drew a deep breath and dove down into the jungle of water plants. He knew where and for what he had to look. Aiyana had showed him. And Jack had said it was okay to act if Aiyana or Oma guided him.

He had to come up for air a couple of times and dive back down. But finally, with the helps of his new knife, he cut the plants away from the section of the wall he was supposed to find.

And there it was. A metal tablet, smooth and cold. Daniel blinked and blinked against the plant particles everywhere. He remembered how he had fallen in Fergus's pond this spring. This was similar, only that he wasn't fully dressed and not so panicked. His small hands scrabbled over the tablet and finally found the imprint to press

A small crack opened in the wall next to him, becoming wider and bigger. Daniel felt his lungs starting to burn, but he had to wait and see if...

Yes. A crystal skull was hidden in the alcove. This was the final exit. Daniel felt his heart hammer in his chest and knew he had to leave. Pushing himself off the wall he swam to the surface.

Rogelio was there, helping him out of the water, all the time railing and blustering about the stupid idea of jumping into the pool. Daniel let him vent as he picked up his shirt to rub himself dry before he began to dress again. His knee was hurting and the bandaid was gone, the graze an angry red and a little swollen. Daniel hoped it wouldn't get infected now that he'd jumped into the water. But he’d had to.

“Dios! Get dressed and then we go back to camp. I will not let you walk away again until they're back.” 

“Rogelio, it was just a swim,” Daniel said. “A bath. Nothing happened.”

“After you slept like a dead man for an hour! Dios!”

“I'm sorry,” Daniel said softly. “I didn't mean to scare you. But... we have to stay here. They will come out of this pool.”

“P **erdón? Què? What?”**

**“** ** They'll... they'll come out here. It's some kind of secret compartment, sorta. I found the entrance. That's why I had to...” Daniel shrugged apologetically. **

**“** ** I'm just the guide. Comprende. But your old man will really have to pay me a fortune,” Rogelio sighed. Then he shrugged and suddenly grinned, his outburst forgotten. “I will finally become rich, amigo. What do you say to that?”  **

**“** ** Fantastico.” **

“This is weird. Very weird. I don't know how weird this is, but it is.” The guide pulled a candy bar from his shirt pocket and threw it at Daniel, who caught it. “Have a snack.”

** *** **

** BD looked up from where he was washing his face in the ice cold waterfall. Jack slumped down next to him, groaning. “Holy crap.” **

**“** ** Are you okay?” **

**“** ** Yeah. But they got Baxter's gun and almost hit me.” **

**“** ** I got his P90, ** ** but there wasn't time to get the other one. Sorry.”  **

**“** ** I know. Those things were fast. What's that on your face... no, don't answer it.” Grimacing, Jack shook his head.  **

**“** ** Jack...” He sat back on his heels and gazed into the bright sunlight. The skull had transported them back into another phase, similar to all the phases they had gone through before they met Ab kin. Nobody was here. It was just quiet, sunny and peaceful. “About Baxter...” **

**“** ** We'll take him  ** ** with us.” **

** Jacob appeared next to them, apparently having heard the conversation. But it was Selmak who spoke, “You said there's a guide watching Daniel. Do you want to explain a dead man who wasn't even with you when he was alive? And how do we get him out of the country? It might take some time for General Hammond to pull enough strings for the government to allow us to take Baxter with us. And we can't return and bring him through the other skull we came through.” **

**“** ** I'm not leaving him behind.” **

** Jacob took over then, his voice more gentle than that of the Tok'ra. “This is a nice place, Jack. He'd probably like it.” **

**“** ** How do you think we'll explai ** ** n this to his relatives.” **

**“** ** How often do you have to leave a body off world...” **

**“** ** But we don't have to. Not this time.” **

“Sir...” They all turned when Sam sat down next to them, pale but calm and accepting. “There was no family. He once said he'd had a wife, but they are divorced and she moved to Europe. Sir, maybe Selmak is right. This is a nice place. Gared would've liked it here. There are lots of stones at the waterfalls we could use.”

** Jack bit his lip, his eyes following BD's over to the distant mountains. “All right. Jackson, you take the device through to Daniel.”  **

**“** ** Can I ask you something? How'd you manage to pick it up from its pedestal, Jack? Because I tried and I couldn't lift it an inch.” **

**“** ** I just picked it up.” Jack shrugged. **

**“** ** That's interesting,” Daniel mumbled. **

**“** ** How so?” **

**“** ** Because I couldn't.” **

** Jack rose to his feet and held out a hand to help him up. “Maybe it was stuck somehow.” **

**“** ** No. I think it has something to do with you having the...” **

**“** ** I do not have it.” **

**“** ** Yes, you do.” **

**“** ** Don't.”  **

**“** ** What are you guys talking about?” Sam looked at them quizzically. **

**“** ** Nothing.” **

“The priest we met insists that Jack has a so called Ancient gene. Which allows him to do certain things with his mind. For example he activated the Telchak device when we found it. He didn't do it deliberately, but he did. Then he switched it off again.” 

**“** ** Wow. That's... Are you ** ** sure?” **

**“** ** No.” **

**“** ** Yes. Well, almost.” **

** Selmak stared at Jack, shaking his head. “You, of all people...?” Then he blinked, coughed slightly and explained. “There are rumors about such a gene. It's said that certain Ancient technology could only be operated and controlled by an Ancient's mind.”  **

** Jack huffed. “It was the plants, okay? At nights the plants have some scent that makes you high and it triggered some of that stuff the Ancient head sucker put into my brain. That's all. Let's bury Baxter and get out of here.” With that he marched off to where they had left Baxter's body. **

**“** ** That would be a logical explanation,” Sam said. “Did you experience side effects of the plants, too, Daniel?” **

He wanted to say no, but knew he couldn't. So he chose his words carefully, trying not to blush. “Yes, actually. I got mad at Nick all over again for not taking me and I kind of yelled at Jack for leaving Daniel with Rogelio. I guess it triggered some buried separation anxiety or rejection issues. But it didn't last. Jack, however, had at least one ancient word slip in when we found the device. And that was hours after the plants had affected us and we were already sober again.”

**“** ** If he had an additional gene, wouldn't it show on any DNA analysis?” Sam asked. **

**“** ** Not necessarily. It can be hidden,” Jacob threw in. **

**“** ** True. Janet should test him.” **

**“** ** Kids!” Jack hollered. “Let's do this. Now.” **

** Daniel picked up the device and went to where they had found the other skulls shortly after they arrived. **

** His journey ended in a pool and he almost dropped the device as he was suddenly swallowing water and his legs were stuck in some sort of plant. Startled, he clutched the cube to his body with both arms as he tried to estimate where the surface was. He paddled around for a moment until his feet hit the ground and he pushed himself off, upwards. **

**“** ** Daniel!” The yell was followed by some curse in Spanish and then Rogelio was there to help him out, taking the device from him. **

** BD coughed and spewed some water before he found himself almost knocked off his legs by LD. Arms wrapped like a vise around his middle, the boy clung to him for a moment before he let go, took a step back and blushed. “How did it go? You found it! Where's Jack? Is he all right?”  **

**“** ** Jack is fine. And yes, we found it.” He pointed at the device and the kid bent over it immediately, reaching out to touch it. “You shouldn't touch it. It's dangerous.” **

**“** ** That's okay. I can't activate it. Nobody can. Only Jack.” **

** Daniel wrung out his jacket and blinked. “ ** ** Well, yes... okay... But let’s be cautious. Wait... h ** ** ow do you know about that?” **

**“** ** He has the Ancient gene, Daniel. He's a direct descendant of the Ancients. Aiyana told me. And he can do other things, too. Like healing people and control ancient technology with his mind... of course he'd need an Ancient to teach him the healing power. It's buried in his mind. So deep he can't reach it. But he can work the technology.” LD tapped the cube with his finger, his mouth forming a perfect 'O' “See those writings? They're in Ancient, too.” Then he turned to look at Daniel, frowning. “Do you know what this means? Telchak  ** ** must've had the Ancient gene, too. Otherwise he couldn't have worked with this thing. Anubis was after this device but...” He snapped his mouth shut when Daniel shook his head and mouthed, “Classified!” **

**“** ** Oh, oh.” LD murmured.  **

** Rogelio was standing next to them, looking rather flabbergasted. Now he rolled his eyes. “I don't understand a word anyway, amigos. I'm just the guide. And I'm not interested being in the middle of... whatever this is. Dios!” He threw up his hands and walked away, lit a cigarette and leaned against a palm tree to smoke.  **

** LD asked in a low voice, “Did you find the zombies?” **

** Daniel gave the boy a short version of what had happened, carefully bringing up the matter of Baxter's death in the end. And leaving out the effects of the plants on him and Jack.  **

** LD hung his head when he heard about Baxter. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, the words catching in his throat. “I liked him.”  **

**“** ** We all did.” He didn't know what else to say. There probably wasn't anything to say at all. This wasn't the first time they experienced the death of a friend or a teammate. It didn't make it any easier. Daniel wondered if Jack would know what to say... he felt like he had to say something, anything, just because his counterpart was a kid.  **

** But LD sighed and wiped a hand over his eyes. “Funny, isn't it? I didn't feel anything when Nick died... but...” **

**“** ** Gared was a friend. You worked with him.” **

**“** ** I think I'm sad about Nick's death too though,” LD mumbled. “He'd loved to find all these skulls and... Daniel, do you think he might have liked me? A little bit?”  **

**“** ** Of course he would have. He was our grandfather, Daniel. And he said he was proud of you, remember? When you... we left him at the Giants... he loved you. Me. Us. He wasn't good in showing it, but he did. It took us a long time to accept that.”  **

**“** ** But I'm a kid now.” **

**“** ** It doesn't matter.” **

**“** ** You don't know that. Maybe he would've freaked.” **

** D ** ** aniel ** ** tousled his little self's hair. “I like to think he might have taken the opportunity to make up for a few things. At least he would have tried, probably.” **

**“** ** For a while.” **

**“** ** Yeah.” **

**“** ** But he couldn't change the way he was. He was probably never meant to have a family. Nick's life was his work.” LD absently pulled out blades of grass. **

**“** ** Do you think we're like that?” Daniel knew he had said it in the haze of the drug plants. But he wondered how his counterpart thought about that. He knew he was obsessed with his work. His work was what made him happy, was his motor, a big part of his life. What if things were different? If they’d never opened the Stargate, never gone to Abydos, never ended up at the SGC... Would he have gone from dig to dig, chasing big dreams and running after wild theories, trying to find the evidence of aliens until it would've cost him his sanity and his life? And when he’d gone to Abydos and been with Shau'ri... hadn't he lost her, too, because he hadn’t been able to keep the gate buried? Because he'd been too curious, too ambitious...  **

**“** ** No.” The boy's voice pulled him out of his musings. “We couldn't be like Nick even if we wanted to. We already have a family. And they'd never let us.”  **

** They grinned at each other, knowing just how true this was.  **

** LD gestured at the device. “Does Jack know how to use it?” **

**“** ** Use it?” **

**“** ** Yes. To kill the zombies.”  **

  
  


** ***  **

** They worked in silence, piling stones around and on Gared Baxter. Jack left Carter and Jacob at one point to make a simple wooden cross with his knife. He had worked with Baxter for over a year and the man had grown on him. Gared had been the only one he hadn’t scared off with his less than appreciative attitude towards Daniel's wanna-be-replacements. The line of volunteers for the job of SG-1's civilian consultant had been long even with Jack O'Neill's bad rep about being a first class SOB with any geek that wasn't Daniel Jackson.  **

** Jack didn't think his rep had changed after he’d barked off the first few guys back then.  **

Baxter, however, had just shrugged Jack's sarcasm and grumpiness off, had lived up to his CO's high expectations, worked well with Carter and Teal'c and had finally convinced Jack that he was worth keeping. Plus, the kid had liked Baxter. And Baxter was good at his job, if not as ambitious and absorbed as Daniel. The team worked well with him.

** Had worked well anyway. **

** It was up to Carter now to find someone to replace him. Jack stopped carving for a moment and just stared into the blue sky, wondering if this was part of “the” plan. Did Baxter have to die to serve Oma Desala's creepy prophecy? The mere thought made him sick.  **

** Then again, if that was the case, Baxter's death at least wouldn't have been for nothing. Jack wondered if Gared would appreciate that and came to the conclusion that he would. **

**“** ** Sir!” Carter stood next to the grave and pointed at something behind Jack's back. Getting to his feet, he watched as the Daniels came down a small hill, the kid running and Jackson carrying the damn Telchak device. **

** What the hell... **

** Jack quickly put the knife away and scooped up the kid. They hugged while Daniel caught his breath. Then he started talking. Fast. “Jack! You've got to go back and finish the zombies! I mean the... whatever they are! You're the only one who can do it and you can use the device! You have to believe BD about the gene, he's right! Aiyana told me you have it. I'll explain it all later, but you have to go back and help Ab kin with the creatures... BD told me what happened!” **

** Jack was less than happy about having to go back there and deal with those slimy not-human somethings and Daniel's ramblings didn't all make sense to him.  **

** And he wanted to be in denial about the gene thing for a little while longer.  **

** However, Jackson nodded his head and offered a few, “Yes,” and “He's right about this, Jack. You can't just leave those zombies alive.” So Jack sat back down on the grass, pulled the Wretch with him to sit beside him and demanded to hear the whole story first, from start, in whole sentences, if possible. **

** Daniel did his 'why does he have to be so dense?' routine with rolling eyes and exchanging pitiful looks with his big self, then told Jack about Aiyana's visit and what they had discussed. He even managed not to splutter and ramble. Mostly.  **

** Jack was screwed. **

** Not only did he have to go back to the living dead, he also had to come out of denial about this gene.  **

**“** ** Janet can do tests...” Carter said. **

**“** ** Oh, I'm sure she will. And stick a needle in my butt along the way. Or stick needles in other places,” he groused and playfully swiped at the kid's head when he heard a snicker.  **

**“** ** First you have to go back,” Jackson said. “We have to go back.” **

**“** ** Who said something about 'we'?”  **

**“** ** You're kidding, right? You can't seriously consider going alone.” **

**“** ** You said it yourself. I'm the only one who can.”  **

**“** ** Uh, Jack, you're the only one who can use the device, but what if it doesn’t work right away? You have to concentrate on it, figure out how to control it?” **

** The Wretch gazed at the cube they were all sitting around. “It can be used both ways. To heal and to end life. You have to concentrate on the green energy. The green energy ends life.” **

**“** ** White energy heals. But it isn't made for humans, only for Ancients,” Jack said. He had known this. When it was first activated... okay, when  ** ** _he_ ** ** first activated it... it had been glowing green and he knew that wasn't how it usually should be. **

**“** ** Yes.” The kid nodded. “You have to be sure it's on full power.” **

** Oh, joy. **

** Carter reached into her vest and retrieved a small sample container. “Daniel, once you defeated them, can you try get some skin tissue? Gared would've wanted that and I think it might be useful to figure out how humans react to the energy. But only if they're really dead. Don't put yourself in jeopardy for this.” **

** Jackson accepted the container with a sincere nod and Jack bit down the remark that taking samples was exactly what had killed Baxter.  **

** They had to do a lot of skull hopping to go back to Ab kin. The skulls built to take them back through all the phases into the “real” dimensions only worked one way. So they left Jacob and Carter to finish the burial, handed the kid over to Rogelio once more and headed back into the temple to do it all over again. One, two, three, four, five skulls later they were back in Ab kin's phase. **

** It was night and Jack remembered the sun had gone down by the time they had met the zombies first.  **

** The heavy sweet scent of the orchids hit them the moment they switched into this phase. **

**“** ** Swell,” Jack groaned. “Try to focus on the mission and not on whatever issues your mind develops.”  **

**“** ** If you try not to stick your tongue down my throat.” **

**“** ** Hey. You started it.” **

**“** ** And you went on with it.”  **

**“** ** Right.” Wincing, he marched off. **

** They hiked down the waterfall, the moonlight dipping everything in a silver light.  **

**“** ** I didn't mean it when I said you were abandoning Daniel like Nick did when you made him stay with Rogelio,” Jackson said suddenly. “It was the drugs. And I spent more time in these phases than you did. I was probably already affected when I came back to the temple to help translate the glyphs. ” **

**“** ** I know.”  **

** Jack wanted to know if everything else Jackson had said was because of the drugs, too. But deep down he knew the answer, so he didn't have to ask. It didn't change anything anyway. They’d broken up, made a clean cut. And it was for the best.  **

**“** ** Come on, let's do this. I want to go home.” **

** When they reached the pool and Ab kin's house, Jack stopped Jackson with a hand on his elbow. “Crap,” he hissed with feeling.  **

** They’d never gone back to reactivate the force field and close the drain. There was no possibility to do that once the creatures had shown up. Their ropes were still hanging at the pool, softly swaying in the light night breeze.  **

** Jackson groaned, coming to the same conclusion. “You think they're out here?” **

**“** ** Oh, yeah.” **

**“** ** That's bad.” **

**“** ** Plan B,” Jack said. “Let's see if there are any in Ab kin's hut.” **

** They approached the little house with caution, only to find it deserted.  **

**“** ** Let's stay in here.” **

**“** ** No argument from me.” Jackson grimaced and went into the hut to guard the only window going out to the back.  **

** Jack stood at the open door, the cube still in his hands. **

**“ Maybe put it down. And not too close to the hut. You have to activate it, but not be too close to it,” Jackson said.**

**“ Right.” Jack stepped outside, knowing Jackson would have his back, and placed the device on the ground halfway between the hut and the pool, then he returned to Jackson.**

**“** ** Concentrate,” Jackson said from his place at the window. “Try to... focus... on... the... device.” **

**“** ** Jackson...” **

**“** ** Concentrate!” **

**“** ** Shut up!” **

**“** ** I'm just trying to help here.” **

**“** ** You're not helping.” Jack closed his eyes and tried to picture how the device looked when it was on.  **

** When he opened his eyes, the device was glowing white.  **

** **

**“** ** Look at that!” He felt rather smug, now that he seemed to get the hang of it. “Cool, eh?” **

**“** ** It's glowing white,” Jackson pointed out, then raised his eyebrows. “You're baiting them.” **

** They waited.  **

** Jack hoped it wouldn't take too long before this was over. He felt the scent of the flowers affecting him more and more. His head began to hurt and he was slightly nauseous. He began to worry about Carter, wondering if she was guilt-ridden because she hadn’t kept Baxter from being killed. This led to thoughts of good people he'd lost, friends, teammates... Charlie... Jack squeezed his eyes shut, willing his thoughts away from his dead kid.  **

** Even if he had the thingamajig-gene – the plants were still messing with his head. **

** The device's glow began to dim and flicker. **

** He was losing control.  **

** Jack's fingers dug into the door frame of Ab kin's hut. He bit the inside of his cheek, hard. Finally the pain registered and lifted the fog in his head enough for him to focus on the device once more. **

** The glow increased. **

** _ Good. _ **

** _ Keep it that way. _ **

**“** ** They're coming.” Jackson stayed at the window, his gun ready to shoot should they change course. **

“Let them come.” Jack felt sweat trickle down his face. He couldn't believe how hard it was to concentrate on the device. A thousand different things seemed to pull at his mind; a thousand different feelings threatened to overwhelm him.

** They gathered around the device, arms outstretched, humming their insane little tune. Jack counted five, seven, ten... **

** They came from the waterfalls, out of the woods, some crawled out of the pool, some just seemed to appear from the shadows. **

** Twelve, fourteen, sixteen... **

** _ Oh God. _ **

**“** ** Too damn many,” Jack hissed.  **

** Where did they come from? There hadn't been more than maybe six or seven down in those tunnels. Okay, so there must have been other tunnels. It didn't matter. They were too many.  **

**“ They're gonna kill us,” Jack said flatly.**

**“** ** No. They won't. It's the plants. They're messing with your head, Jack. You have to focus!” **

**“** ** There're hundreds...” **

**“** ** No! Fifteen, tops. Maybe twenty! Jack!” **

** He bit down on his cheek again, hot pain exploding, blood filling his mouth. Jack swallowed it. He blinked. A crowd of maybe twenty creatures were standing around the device, humming and swaying. **

**“** ** Okay, okay... Green. The clavia... the key is...” He knew how to do this. Daniel said so. And Daniel better be right about this. It was just so hard to keep his thoughts together. His fron was going to explode in a thousand tiny little pieces. **

**“** ** I think you're right,” Jackson said, his voice suddenly wavering. “They're too many. What were we thinking... Why did you let the kid talk you into this? Why did we? What if he was wrong? What if Aiyana was ** ** wrong?”  **

** No. **

** The kid was right. **

** Jack could do this.  **

**“** ** I m ** ** ean who would believe you have some sort of ancient powers, Jack? That's just... healing powers! Where are they anyway? Can you even imagine that?” **

** Yes. **

** Yes, he could. **

** Because he had done it before.  **

** Jack grasped for the memory like it was the last straw. On Anubis's ship. When they had been about to die. Oma had been there. And she had given him healing powers... had touched Jackson and closed his wounds... only it hadn't been Oma, right? She had opened Jack's mind, given him the means to do this, said he had to find what lies within him or some other zen stuff...  **

** There was more. **

** Anubis's ship had been full of Ancient technology. His computers were encrypted by Ancient codes... and Jack had been able to lower the shield... had put a virus into the system.  **

** Because Jack had known how. **

** It was as if all these little pieces of the puzzle set something free inside him. **

** The device switched colors, its glow a poisonous green now, and suddenly engulfed everything in a bright, deadly light. **

**“** ** Jack? What?” Jackson stood next to him, his jaw hitting the floor. **

** Jack threw himself at him. “DOWN! Don't look at it!” He covered Jackson with his body, pressing his own face into his friend's hair, his arms wrapped around him. “Don't look or it'll kill you. It'll be over soon. Just keep your eyes shut.” **

** Daniel's breath was ragged, coming in little pants and huffs, but Jack felt him nod underneath him. **

** ***  **

** He woke because someone was nuzzling his neck. He felt slightly squashed and there was dirt in his mouth and sand between his teeth.  **

** _ What the...  _ ** ** “Ow, Ja...” **

**“** ** Mhh?” **

**“** ** What are you doing?” **

**“** ** Don't know. Feels nice though.” **

**“** ** You passed out.” **

**“** ** Didn'...” **

**“** ** Yes you did. What happened?” He squirmed and wriggled until Jack gave an annoyed huff and heaved himself off him.  **

** It was still dark, but a faint orange light at the horizon announced the new day.  **

** Oh God. Oh no, no, no, what had they done this time? Daniel rubbed the dirt from his face as he sat up  ** ** and leaned against the door frame of Ab kin's house. A first glimpse at Jack and himself had him sigh with relief. They were both fully dressed and even had their boots on. There was no way they could have accomplished re-dressing if they had done something stupid under the influence of the plants. He scratched his chin stubble and tried to think past his headache and the fact that Jack had been lying on top of him, nuzzling his neck.  **

** Jack stood, stepped over him and stalked outside. “Jackson!” **

** He followed slowly, trying not to move too fast, in order to keep the nausea at bay. **

** There was the Telchak device sitting on the ground, dark and harmless. And the grass was burned and dead around it, scattered with...  **

**“** ** Are those...?” **

**“** ** Bones, yeah. Pretty burned.” **

**“** ** Mind if I...?”  **

**“** ** No.” **

** They staggered off in different directions and threw up whatever the last thing was they had eaten. Oh yes, a powerbar and some bread. When they met again, both pale and green around the gills, Jack pushed at the bones fragments with his boot. “Not much left.” **

**“** ** I'll take some samples.” Now that the urge to throw up was gone, Daniel felt like himself again. Mostly at least. **

**“** ** You sure they won't... you know...” Jack made walking away gestures with his fingers. **

**“** ** No. Those bones are not even whole anymore. I'll take some of the ashes and some fragments.” **

**“** ** Ever thought about how macabre your job is?”  **

**“** ** No, not really.” He pulled the tools from his jacket and collected his samples while Jack took a look around. **

** Later they went in search of Ab kin. Daniel hoped the priest hadn't been killed by the creatures. When a sweep of the area around the pool turned out to be unsuccessful, Daniel went into the hut and used the skull to contact the Giants. **

** He went through the following routine, still feeling hungover, dog tired and only driven by the wish to go home, take a shower, sleep and never ever have to see a crystal skull again for the rest of his life.  **

** Quetzalcoati was very pleased with the turn of events. Ab kin had sought protection at the Giants' planet and was now eager to return home to his village. **

**“** ** Nobody has to return to guard the evil demons now,” he told Daniel and Jack when they were back in Ab kin's house. “Thanks to you, we are free.” **

** Jack blinked at Ab kin. “You speak English?” **

**“** ** I do. I visited the school in St Lucia as a child.” He smiled. “But as long as I was serving my gods as a priest, I was only allowed to speak Cho'olan, which is Mayan language. Many Mayan people in Honduras still speak it, Jack O'Neill, son of the Ancients.” **

**“** ** Right,” Jack said, rubbing his forehead. “Great. Can we go now?” **

** They descended into the empty pool one last time once Ab kin had bundled his belongings. They closed the drain so the waterfalls would now slowly fill the basin and the tunnels where the creatures had lived. They hurried to the chamber with the skulls and Daniel didn't look back. Some ruins were not worth being explored any further.  **

** **Epilogue** **

**“** ** Those bone fragments are really over 10 000 years old!” LD's eyes grew big behind his glasses. He had helped analyze them. “I can't imagine how someone can live that long, trapped in some dark dirty underground chamber.” **

**“** ** Don't you dare say you feel sorry for them,” Jack huffed. “They weren't alive. They existed. Somehow. It was sick.” **

**“** ** No, no, I'm not. I'm just amazed. Though you have to keep in mind they used to be humans once.” **

**“** ** Daniel,” Jack sighed, “you're right. That said, I don't care. They tried to kill us.” **

**“** ** And they did kill Gared. I know.” Daniel took a sip of his Seven-up and grimaced at the sweet taste.  **

** They were sitting on the porch, enjoying the warm evening with grilled steaks and potato salad. The food was gone and the adults savored their favorite drinks, everyone lounging on a deckchair as the crickets began their evening concert. Flyboy growled deep in his throat. He didn't like crickets for some reason. Jack's hand dropped to the dog's head, scratching behind his ears to calm him.  **

** After a moment of silence, Sam said, “It was really just utterly gross.” She took a large gulp of her  ** ** beer like she wanted to wash away a bad taste.  **

**“** ** On the upside I think Rogelio has gotten a lot closer to fulfilling his dream about a business, going by the amount of money the Air Force paid him for his job,” Jack grinned.  **

**“** ** Mostly to keep him silent about what he saw and heard. Not that he saw much. But his face was priceless when you all came out of the water,” Daniel grinned.  **

**“** ** I remember he said he wants to have his own cantina. Does that mean we can drink on him next time we're in St. Lucia?” When everyone just glared at him, BD grimaced. “I was just kidding. I don't really want to go back either.” **

** Sam stretched out her legs and leaned back in her chair, gazing up at the stars. “It's frightening sometimes, isn't it? The things we know... There are days when I'm not sure I really want to know all that's going on  ** ** out there. ** ** But then there are all the other things... What we've seen, studied, experienced... It kinda makes up for the bad dreams.” **

**“** ** Some of it is worth it,” Jack admitted somewhat reluctantly.  **

**“** ** Gared wanted to be  ** ** out there, ** ** ” she continued quietly. “He once told me he wouldn't change going off world for anything. SG-1 was the best thing that happened to him, ever. He really loved his job.” She took another sip of her drink before she abruptly put the bottle down, mumbled an apology and left the porch. They watched her vanishing in the dark of the garden. **

** Nobody said a word. **

** Finally BD went inside to get a new round of drinks.  **

**“** ** Is the Tok'ra High council pleased with your progress on engineering the weapon against Anubis's soldiers?” Teal'c asked. **

There had been a briefing today. Daniel and Jack exchanged a glance and both sighed. “It's slow progress. Jack knows how to switch it on and off, make it change color and he knows how to dim or increase the strength of power. Aiyana has helped me to understand how, uh, it works. Now Sam is trying to duplicate or re-build the power source and the matrix so it can be used by everyone, not just by Ancients. Telchak managed to build the sarcophagus. It must be possible to backwards-engineer parts of the device so it can be used by normal humans.”

**“** ** We got some work done, but the Tok'ra think it's not going so well,” Jack muttered. “They're sending two of their guys to assist. Jacob says they're decent but... well, you know me and the Tok'ra.”  **

**“** ** Sam says she really hopes Jack won't piss them off because we really need their help,” Daniel added with a giggle. “She told me to keep him in line.”  **

**“** ** That would be wise, LittleDaniel. If you need assistance I am happy to help keeping O'Neill in line.” **

**“** ** Funny, T. Not.” Jack stood and pointed at the garden. “I'm gon ** ** na ** ** go and see if I can find Carter. Maybe she needs some pep talk.” **

**“** ** She'll be all right,” Daniel mumbled, watching Jack's retreating back. **

**“** ** Yes, she will be.” Teal'c took a bottle of plum juice from BD. “MajorCarter is a strong warrior.” **

**“** ** She's probably shaken after having brought SG-1 back from Anubis's fortress in one piece, only to lose Gared right here on Earth,” BD said tiredly. **

** And the news SG-1 brought back from their mission hadn't been good either. Right after their return from Honduras Jack and BD had been in a long briefing with General Hammond and the remaining members of SG-1 while Daniel had reluctantly followed Janets and Jack's orders to sleep in his base quarters. **

** He did sleep. Deep, long and dreamless. It was the most refreshing sleep he had had in weeks.  **

** They had clued him in later, and he remembered how serious they all had been. How somber. Anubis's army of super soldiers was huge. There were hundreds, if not thousands of them, serving their master unconditionally because they had been programmed to do so. They all carried the Goa'uld larva of a queen Anubis had held hostage in a tank.  **

** On his way out Jacob had blown up the tank. That queen wouldn't give Anubis any more larva for his soldiers.  **

** Still, the threat was serious. And the need for a weapon urgent. **

**“** ** Will you take GaredBaxter's place on SG-1, DanielJackson?” Teal'c asked into the subdued silence. **

** BD gazed at his beer. “Sam hasn't asked me yet. I'm not even sure I'm allowed to join a team...” **

**“** ** O'Neill made it clear some time ago he would talk to GeneralHammond. There is no reason why you should not join a SG team.” **

**“** ** This isn't just Jack's call. Or General Hammond's. The NID thinks I'm some sort of abnormal freak.” BD glanced over at Daniel. “And I just think it's too early to talk about it.” **

**“** ** I disagree. SG-1 needs you. To continue the battle. To prepare for Anubis.” **

**“** ** He's right, you know.” Daniel shrugged when he saw BD's eyes widen in surprise. “What? I can't do it anymore. Be on the team, I mean. Now that Baxter is... gone... you're the next logical choice.” **

**“** ** Indeed.” **

**“** ** And you're okay with that?” BD frowned, clearly puzzled. **

**“** ** It's not my call either. But yeah. They'd be stupid if they didn't ask you.” **

** BD didn't reply to that and they fell back into silence until Sam and Jack appeared in the porch light.  **

** **

** Daniel noticed her red trimmed eyes and how pale she was. But she smiled at him as she settled into her chair. “I'm okay,” she said, reaching out to put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Stop worrying.” She looked sternly at everyone. “All of you. Quit it right away. If you want to do me a favor, give me something to smile about. I need it bad.” **

** Jack waved at Daniel, smirking. “Go, hug her. The cutesy factor will help her smile for the rest of the evening.” **

** Daniel did. And she smiled and hugged him back, blowing a kiss into his hair, telling him she loved him. Then BD hugged her, too, and Teal'c, and even Flyboy. Jack muttered something about cliches and sappiness before he hugged her as well.  **

** It was almost like that evening on the roof after Daniel had come home from the infirmary. After Reese had tried to kill him and Oma offered him ascension.  **

** Only so much had happened since then, they’d all moved on, had a few more scars and won a few more battles. Daniel shivered at the thought of what lay ahead of them.  **

** He didn't feel like a kid at all tonight, the burden of what was expected of him, of them all, more present than ever.  **

** But life would go on. **

** He knew he'd wake up tomorrow, go to work, banter with Jack, have lunch, play with his dog, his Nintendo, read books or watch TV. Maybe they'd go to the park and have ice cream. Maybe he'd finally tell Jack he wanted a bike for his birthday. Or a Furry Friend bear. He would do some adult stuff and some kid stuff... and probably live like that for weeks or months... and then something else would happen that triggered more of what Oma had given him. And they would be a step closer to the end. The show down as Jack called it.  **

** But he wouldn't be alone.  **


End file.
